Apas demolition delayed; sheriff seeking police help

No demolition took place yesterday in sitio San Miguel, barangay Apas after the court sheriff said he still has to seek police assistance.

“I have to coordinate with the police on what steps to take so the demolition is handled peacefully. I’m just doing my work otherwise I will be charged with an administrative offense,” court sheriff El Cid Caballes told Cebu Daily News.

Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Soliver Peras yesterday “noted without action” the Office of the Solicitor General’s pleading to postpone the demolition for 30 days on behalf of 168 affected families.

Peras said a copy of the OSG’s pleading was sent to the court by fax but was not considered offical.

At best, he said it is a copy of the original pleading.

“There’s no way of determining on the face of the document whether the faxed pleading is genuine and authentic and was original signed by the party and his counsel. It may in fact be a sham pleading,” Peras said, quoting a Supreme Court ruling.

Since there’s a pending motion before the Court of Appeals, Judge Peras said the parties should bring this matter before the CA or the Supreme Court.

The motion filed by the settlers was recently denied, prompting their lawyer to say they will raise the matter to the Supreme Court.

Sheriff Caballes, who received a death threat in a cell phone text message on Wednesday last week, wasn’t in a hurry to enforce a court-ordered demolition order.

Asked when he would serve the writ of demolition, Caballes said, “Di lang ta magdali (Let’s not hurry on this.)”

Ownership of the private lot by Mario Godinez was deemed final by the court in a 2002 ruling by RTC Judge Benigno Gaviola who said Godinez was the “absolute and exclusive owner.”

The dispute remains a politically charged controversy with both the administration of Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and his political rival Rep. Tomas Osmeña intervening to help the occupants, mostly families of retired politce and military personnel who have occupied the site near Camp Lapu-Lapu since 1960.

The settlers, in challenging the writ of demolition, said that when they started living there in 1960 they believed the government had expropriated it.

Judge Peras yesterday ordered the police to assist the sheriff in carrying out the demolition.

He later recalled his ruling and ordered the police to submit a comment on the sheriff’s request for police assistance for the demolition.

Senior Supt. Melvin Ramon Buenafe, Cebu City police chief, said he ordered his personnel to exercise maximum tolerance because he doesn’t want a repeat of the bloody demolition of a slum area in Parañaque, Metro Manila late last month.

Benjamin Militar, counsel of the families, questioned Peras for sustaining the previous court rulings which declared Mariano Godinez as the owner of the 4.7-hectare lot.

“We have never been given a chance to be heard or to participate in court proceedings. Where is due process here?,” he said.

Militar said the settlers wanted to intervene in the lot ownership case filed by Godinez against the national government when it was still with the lower court.

However, their motion for intervention was denied by the court.

“Why is the judge in a hurry? All we want now is to avoid any untoward incident (if the demolition will proceed). We are asking to suspend the demolition. He refused to do it. Give us a chance to be heard,” Militar said.

If the settlers are asked to vacate the area, Militar said they should be paid for the actual value of their homes.

Militar said the settlers are entitled to payment as “builders in good faith.”

Joel Trumpeta, councilor of barangay Apas and a retired army soldier, said they will never vacate the area.

“We are not squatters. We were authorized to build our homes there,” he added.

Last April 20, Judge Peras gave the go-signal for the sheriff to carry out a writ of demolition.

The original lawsuit was filed in 1997 by Godinez against the Republic of the Philippines to reclaim the lot which was used as premises of the PNP Regional Training School in Central Visayas and less than a hectare of Camp Lapu-Lapu.

A petition for certiorari filed by the settlers was dismissed for lack of merit by the Court of Appeals. Ador Vincent Mayol, Reporter with Correspondent Chito Aragon