Rama wants P52.2-M refund, probe on release of payment

After securing a Court of Appeals ruling that stopped the auction of the city’s properties, the Cebu City government now wants a refund of more than P56 million it paid to the Rallos heirs.

Jade Ponce, legal consultant of Mayor Michael Rama, said they may even probe Rep. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district after he agreed to release the amount to the heirs of Rev. Fr. Vicente Rallos.

The payment was supposedly intended for a property in barangay Sambag II that was expropriated by the city government for a road in 1963.

“Whether or not he (Osmeña) has personal liability will be studied,” Ponce told Cebu Daily News.

He said they will go after “certain persons or officials” if proven that there was negligence or connivance in paying the Ralloses.

“Legal remedies will be pursued if warranted against those responsible, no matter how powerful,” Ponce said.

In a phone interview, Osmeña said it wasn’t him who decided to pay the Ralloses.

“I want to get the facts straight. I didn’t pay the Rallos (family). There was a court order (mandating the banks that housed the city’s funds to pay),” he said.

Finding fault

In 2002, Osmeña said Rama, who was his vice mayor then, didn’t want to settle the city’s dues to the Ralloses.

“He said we will fight it all the way to the Supreme Court. He did nothing. Now it’s my fault? He keeps on finding faults,” he said.

As to claims that his administration failed to discover the convenio or an old compromise agreement between feuding descendants of the Rallos family in the 1940s, Osmeña said “That compromise agreement was not in my drawer.”

The city government under then mayor Osmeña paid P56,196,369.42 to the Rallos family in 2002 and 2008.

Ponce believed it’s proper to get back what was paid to the Ralloses since the family donated the lot to the city government.

He said the city intends to recover the amount plus interest that was “wrongly paid by the previous administration and then restore it to our public coffers.

“These are people’s money. It is not a question of whether we should get it. We are obliged to get it. This is not a matter of choice but a legal duty on the part of the city to do so,” he said.

Thanksgiving

The Court of Appeals recently enjoined the lower court and its agents from collecting funds or conducting an auction of city owned properties in order to pay the P133 million that the city supposedly owed the Rallos heirs.

Associate Justice Gabriel Ingles of the CA’s 18th division issued a Writ of Preliminary Injunction against the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 9, heirs of Rev. Fr. Vicente Rallos, among others.

Rama yesterday offered a thanksgiving Mass at the Basilica del Sto. Niño in downtown Cebu City after the city got two favorable rulings from the court.

He said he will consider whatever recommendations the city lawyers make.

In a phone interview, Roy Rallos said they would never return the P56.2 million paid to them by the city. He said the payment carried the imprimature of a court order.

“What the city is doing is funny. We didn’t receive the payment without a court order. We have nothing to return. Instead, it is us who should collect the city’s full payment,” Rallos told Cebu Daily News.

Rallos, the spokesperson of the family, said the city government should heed the Supreme Court decision which earlier mandated the city to pay at least P133 million.

Final and executory

But Ponce said public funds worth P56.2 million shouldn’t have been released to the Rallos family had the city government, under then mayor Osmeña, did their homework and uncovered the convenio.

When asked how Osmena’s camp failed to see the convenio, Ponce said “I can’t guess. I can’t fathom why.”

The convenio was a decision of the Court of First Instance of the Province of Cebu dated Oct. 18, 1940.

City officials, through former Cebu City councilor Jocelyn Pesquera, discovered last year the convenio or compromise agreement between feuding descendants of the Rallos family in the 1940s.

The agreement would purportedly prove that the city government need not pay for a lot that was supposed to be donated by the Ralloses to the local government unit.

City lawyers mentioned about the convenio only during a hearing last year.

But Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge James Himalaloan dismissed the agreement, saying it didn’t affect the SC ruling which became “final and executory.”

Irrelevant

The Ralloses questioned the authenticity of the convenio since it was purportedly unsigned.

Ponce said the Supreme Court’s decision on the case that was deemed and final and executory is now “irrelevant” because of the convenio.

He said the Ralloses knew about the convenio even before they filed a case against the city government so the family will get paid for a lot that was actually donated.

Justice Ingles said based on the evidence presented, it appeared that the Ralloses knew about the convenio before the latter filed a case against the city so they can claim the payment.

“The non-disclosure of the convenio resulted in the violation of petitioner’s right for it is now made to pay with the use of public funds for properties that were supposed to be donated and transferred to it without cost,” Ingles said.

Rama said what made the CA ruling sweeter is it came after Filinvest Land Developement, Inc. already released last week their P245.2 million payment for the land they bought at the South Road Properties (SRP).

The mayor said he is just waiting for Filinvest to also release the city’s share amounting to P600 million from the Joint Venture (JV) agreement they entered into with the real estate developer.

“Justice has been served,” he said. The mayor said he wanted to know who were the people responsible for the P56 million payment so that administrative and criminal charges may be filed against them.

“I’m wondering why the past administration didn’t use the convenio (in defending the city’s case) when it was in the file,” the mayor said.