The Nueva Vizcaya town of Bayombong may no longer close roads beyond nine days just to accommodate flea markets and gambling arcades, according to an order recently issued by a local court to the municipal government.
In a 13-page decision on June 29, Judge Dominica Dumangeng Rosario of Bayombong Regional Trial Court Branch 27 resolved a 2015 lawsuit that challenged Ordinance No. 2015-007, a local measure invoked earlier that year to temporarily close a municipal road to traffic for 45 days (from July 1 to Aug 15) to make space for a “peryahan (fair)” during the town fiesta.
The complaint, filed seven years ago by resident Melvin Gascon, asserted that the 1991 Local Government Code allows municipal governments only up to nine days to close a road.
The prolonged closure, which was approved by the municipal council and the administration of then-Mayor Ramon Cabauatan (currently the vice mayor), caused a traffic problem that the town was forced to endure, according to the complainant who is also a veteran Inquirer reporter.
Gascon also noted that a private organizer of the flea market benefited from the closure of the road, even though such a public space should be “beyond the commerce of man.”
‘In good faith’
In answer to the complaint, the Bayombong municipal government at the time maintained in court that the decision to close the road based on the ordinance was “above board” and “in good faith.”
But Rosario, the judge, ruled that allowing the flea market to operate at the site beyond nine days turned it into a “nuisance.”
Allowing merchants to occupy portions of public roads should be on a temporary basis and, in the Bayombong case, only “for the purpose of fiesta celebrations,” she said. “Therefore, their occupation of the roads should not exceed nine days.”
“Once it goes beyond the allowable period, then its purpose for fiesta celebration is defeated,” Rosario added.
‘Capable of repetition’
Although the 45-day road shutdown had long elapsed and the enabling ordinance had already expired, the court continued to hear Gascon’s complaint after classifying it as a case “capable of repetition, yet evading review.”
Citing a similar local government ordinance passed in 2017, the court said it had to act because town fiestas are annual affairs and the issue raised by Gascon would simply be repeated.
Ralph Lantion, the Bayombong mayor in 2017, was included in the suit, while the incumbent, Tony Bagasao, was not considered a party to the case.
Rosario said the permanent injunction she issued would remain in effect “until such time that the law, rules and regulations on the issue shall have been amended by the legislature.”
—VINCENT CABREZA
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