SC stops Pasay RTC court order on land dispute

The Supreme Court has temporarily stopped the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) from occupying a P1.46-billion property owned by the Social Security System (SSS) in Pasay City.

“We most welcome the order of the honorable Supreme Court,” said lawyer Rudolf Philip Jurado, counsel of SSS.

In a three-page order dated June 21, the tribunal’s Third Division issued a status quo ante order directing the NGCP and Presiding Judge Gina Bibat-Palamos of Pasay Regional Trial Court Branch 108 to refrain from implementing her March 2 and April 24 orders.

Palamos granted a writ of possession which allowed the NGCP to occupy the 60,872-square-meter property where it intends to build a 230-kilovolt substation.

Wilfredo Lapitan, the division clerk of court, said the parties were ordered to “maintain the status quo prevailing” before the lower court judge released her questioned orders. —Marlon Ramos