Allowances a non-issue, City Hall adviser says

THE monthly allowances given to judges won’t be withheld by Cebu City Hall even if they rule against the city, a legal consultant of Mayor Michael Rama said yesterday.

Jade Ponce said they were surprised by the decision of Regional Trial Court Judge James Stewart Himalaloan to inhibit from handling the case filed by the heirs of the Rev. Fr. Vicente Rallos against the city.

“It (allowances given by the city to judges) is a non-issue. It’s irrelevant. We didn’t even talk about it when we had discussions about the case. That’s (inhibition) the discretion of the judge,” Ponce said.

Ponce said the allowances given by the city to judges aren’t intended to influence their decision in cases that involve the city government.

He said they are confident about the legal basis of their case against the Rallos heirs.

“The city should help the courts in anyway it can. It won’t withhold judges’ allowances, which has been given by the city to help the courts,” he said.

Under the Local Government Code of 1991, local governments can “provide for additional allowances and other benefits to judges, prosecutors, public elementary and high school teachers and other national government officials stationed in or assigned to the city.”

Lawyer Earl Bonachita, president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Cebu City chapter, said Himalalaon disqualified himself from handling the Rallos case because he believed that his independence may be questioned by the parties involved.

“Somehow the allowances from the LGU can be taken as a factor that may affect the impartiality of a magistrate, especially if a case involves the local government providing such allowances,” Bonachita said in a text message to Cebu Daily News.

Ponce dismissed claims by the Ralloses that the case is deemed final.

“The fight is just about to start. The anthem has just been sung. The fighter has just been introduced,” he said.

The city government was sued by the Ralloses whose property in barangay Sambag I in Cebu City was expropriated for a road in 1963.

The court ruled in favor of the Ralloses and mandated the city to settle its dues to the family. The city’s debt now stands at P133 million.

In an order dated last Sept 23, Himalaloan gave the go signal for the court sheriff to issue a writ of execution against the city government.

Notices of Garnishment were sent to the city’s depository banks consisting of the Land Bank of the Philippines, Philippine Postal Bank, Development Bank of the Philippines and Philippine Veterans Bank.

The same notice was sent to SM Prime Holding Inc., SM Development Corp. and SM Investments Corp. at their offices in the Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay City, Metro Manila.

The city requested the court to set aside the Writ of Execution and the Notice of Garnishment.

The judge denied the city’s request and affirmed previous rulings on the case.

The city is set to file a petition for annulment of judgment before the Court of Appeals.

It also wants to secure a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop the scheduled auction of 9.7 hectares of the South Reclamation Project on Dec. 13.

Ponce advised the sheriff to withdraw the notice of auction, which he said has no “leg to stand on.” Himalaloan on Wednesday decided to inhibit from handling the Rallos case.

Other than the main case, Himalaloan likewise handles the petition for indirect contempt filed by Lucina Rallos against Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB) and Mayor Rama who refused to settle the city’s debt of P133 million to the Ralloses.