Seedling bank closure hit: ‘Plain harassment, illegal’

Officials of the Manila Seedling Bank Foundation Inc. on Friday questioned the legality of the Quezon City government’s seizure of the 7-hectare property that had been the foundation’s home for almost four decades.

They maintained there was no court order authorizing City Hall to close down the property and evict its 82 shop owner-tenants. “This is plain harassment. It is unlawful and illegal. There was no due process, they just want to shut us down,” according to the foundation’s chair, Lucito Bertol.

“The tenants here are very angry over what the mayor did. It’s nearing Christmas and they are doing this to the tenants,” Bertol told the Inquirer in an interview inside the property at the corner of Edsa and Quezon City.

The city government under Mayor Herbert Bautista ordered the closure Monday, citing the tenants’ failure to secure necessary permits. They were offered a new site at Quezon Memorial Circle.

On Thursday, however, local officials announced that the tenants could still operate their shops until Dec. 31 if they wish to hold a clearance sale. Most of the shops did not open on Friday.

City Hall took over the property in 2012 on account of the foundation’s failure to pay P57.2 million in real property taxes from 2001 to 2011. This was after the Supreme Court ruled that MSBFI was not exempt from taxes even if the compound was owned by the National Housing Authority.

But MSBFI president Leonardo Ligeralde said there was still no court order directing the closure of the property, which the foundation was entitled to occupy for 50 years starting 1977, under Proclamation No. 1670.

Ligeralde also cited a June 2013 ruling of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 96, wherein Judge Afable Cajigal directed the city government to “permanently desist from enforcing or implementing the Quezon City Zoning Ordinance” at the MSBFI property.

The ordinance named the property as one of the areas covered by the city’s central business district.

The ruling, he said, also ordered the city government to issue a locational clearance and business permit to the foundation. City Hall contested the RTC ruling in the Supreme Court in September.

“Clearly, there is no court order closing us down. We paid our fees and were issued a receipt, but no permit (was given) because they said the high court had not yet ruled on it,” he said.

Bertol also noted that despite the reported reopening of the compound to let tenants stay till Dec. 31, “our employees are being blocked from entering the administration office by (the city’s) Public Order and Safety personnel. We had to plead with them to let us in.”

Still, MSBFI officials said they were still willing to sit down and talk it over with the city government and the NHA.

“But not like this. They (City Hall) are not talking with us. They just want to shut us down. The NHA has not yet talked to us, but they respect our right to the property,” Ligeralde said.