Court steps into Makati condo builders’ dispute

MAKATI CITY, Philippines – A Makati City court has ordered a condominium developer to remove the barriers it put on a road that it co-owns with a neighboring project, weeks after tensions rose between their respective personnel and provoked gunshots at the work site.

In an order released January 16, Judge Bonifacio Pascua of the Makati Regional Trial Court–Branch 56 issued a 20-day temporary restraining order “enjoining Picar (Development Corp.), its employees, agents and representatives and those acting in its behalf or under its authority from blocking or barricading the co-owned road.”

Picar spokesperson Cherry Julian said the company received the order only on Friday and that it immediately complied.

A petition for a TRO was earlier filed by Century Properties, the builder of the neighboring structure, following an incident between the workers and security forces of the two companies in December last year.

A scuffle erupted and shots were fired as Century claimed that Picar tried to stop its installation of lampposts on a “common road” separating their projects on Kalayaan Avenue.

The court order barred Picar “from committing any and all acts that would prevent Century Properties from accessing and passing through the co-owned road and from exercising any of its rights as co-owner.”

“Clearly, Century Properties as a co-owner cannot be prevented from using and passing through the co-owned road,” the order read.

But in a press statement on Wednesday, Century noted that “six days since the issuance of the court order, and despite its issuance by the sheriff, Picar has not removed the barricades.”

To this, Julian replied: “How can they say that we did not comply when we only received the order this Friday.”