Marikina judge asked to inhibit from Harbour Centre Port case

A SHIPPING magnate and his lawyers asked a Marikina Regional Trial Court Judge to recuse himself from handling the dispute involving the Harbour Centre Port Terminal in Manila.

In a 15-page motion for inhibition with motion to suspend proceedings, Harbour Centre Holdings, Inc. (HCPHI) Michael Romero and lawyers from the Paredes Garcia and Golez Law Office (PCG Law Office) urged Marikina RTC Branch 272 Judge Felix Reyes to inhibit from the case for his alleged bias in handling the case of former Harbour Centre Port Corporate Secretary Mario Saycon against Romero and other corporate officers.

The motion stemmed from a June 15 resolution issued by the court asking Harbour Centre Ports corporate secretary Atty. Ramil Mendoza to submit documents regarding the approval, ratification and confirmation of corporate documents submitted in court.

Romero and his counsels said the order was issued after both parties have already rested their cases in an injunction issue following a hearing conducted last June 11.

They added that they have filed their formal offer of evidence making the case ripe for resolution.

“Worse and far more indicative of the disconcerting and undue interest which Judge Felix Reyes appears to have in this case, he issued the subject order motu proprio (on his own),” the motion stated.

“It was an order which was uncalled for, not requested by either party and is a thinly veiled attempt to create additional issues where there is none,” the motion further stated.

By issuing the order, the motion noted that the Judge expanded the scope and coverage of Saycon’s prayer to include the ruling on the added issue on the validity of several corporate documents including Amended General Information Sheet for 2012 and Secretary’s Certificate.

Saycon filed a case for injunction and damages against the Romero camp.

He claimed he was made to sign company documents pertaining to the young Romero’s shares in the P5-billion port facility in Tondo, Manila, in the capacity of corporate secretary although he is not qualified to do so.

But the young Romero’s camp believed that the move is a ploy to nullify the corporate documents to affect his claim on the ownership of the Harbour Centre Port Terminal in Manila.