Court: Suspend demolition of houses

Settlers occupying the lot claimed by lawyer Raul Sesbreño yesterday got a reprieve from the court.

Regional Trial Court Judge Gilbert Moises of Branch 18 ordered the suspension of the demolition of structures built on a Talisay City lot that Sesbreño co-owns.

The judge has yet to resolve the pleadings by both camps.

The settlers want the court to set aside the Writ of Demolition it issued.

During the hearing, Sesbreño said the claims presented by the settlers were already discussed by the court that ruled in his favor.

“The motions you filed are considered an abuse of court processes and a malpractice. Your motion is a form of forum shopping,” he said.

He looked at about 20 settlers present inside the courtroom and addressed them as “squatters” at least thrice.

“You are squatters, usurpers and intruders. You have no right to a land that does not belong to you. You took advantage of leasing it to others for your own personal aggrandizement,” Sesbreño told the settlers who remained silent.

He said all persons, although not subject to the case but are prejudiced by the court order, should be removed from the lot.

“The Supreme Court states that squatters, intruders of land are bound by a demolition order although they are not parties in the case,” Sesbreño said.

In an interview, Sesbreño said he continued to receive threats sent through text messages.

His wife Virginia, their neighbor Soledad Epanto and friend Marlon Joshua Young were inside an Isuzu pickup when two motorcycle-riding men opened fired at the vehicle that stopped for a red light in a junction of Rabaya Street and the South Coastal Road in barangay Cansojong, Talisay City, last Feb. 1.

Sesbreño wasn’t inside the vehicle when the incident took place.

The lawyer said he believed the ambush had something to do with the demolition of settlers occupying a lot that he claimed as his.

For quite sometime, lawyer Raul Sesbreño has fought for the parcels of land in Talisay City that his deceased clients entrusted to him as payment for his legal services.

Sesbreño got a favorable decision from the RTC, which ordered the demolition of structures built on the lot that Sesbreño claims.

RTC Judge Douglas Marigomen of Branch 5, who once handled the case and inhibited himself from handling the case, reversed the ruling of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities and declared the settlers as “illegal occupants of the land in question.”

In his ruling, Marigomen took into consideration the a court order issued on Aug. 29, 1989 in the case titled “Estate of Vito Borromeo, Jose Palma, administrator.”

The Borromeos earlier availed the legal service of Sesbreño.

Sesbreño claims to be part owner of the properties that belonged to the Borromeos.

The order stated that Sesbreño was awarded by his clients Crispin and Carlos Borromeo 15 percent of the cash a real properties from the Estate of Vito Borromeo.

Sesbreño said the deceased landowners agreed to pay for his attorney’s fees with a parcel of their land.

The Municipal Trial Court in Cities said the settlers were paying their rentals to the Borromeos.