Brgy chief hales neighbor to court for noise pollution

A village chief in Cebu City has filed a damage suit of over P1 million against his neighbor for noise pollution for operating a mobile disco in the area.

Labangon barangay captain Victor Buendia sought the intervention of the Cebu City Regional Trial Court to stop Gilbert Go from conducting “sound testing, storage, repair and maintenance of disco equipment” at the latter’s residence. Go operates a mobile disco business.

In his complaint, Buendia said he was constrained to renovate his house to get rid of the noise coming from Go’s residence.

“The plaintiff has long been suffering for the disturbance and inconvenience brought about by the conduct of the business of the defendant in a residential area. While it is true that every person has the right to pursue his own trade or profession, he may not do so to the extent of disparaging the rights of others,” said Buendia’s lawyer Jed Carlo Lazaga.

Buendia is asking the court to order Go to pay P1 million in moral damages, P100,000 in actual damages, P50,000 in attorney’s fees, and P30,000 in litigation expenses.

Before going to court, Buendia referred the issue to the barangay for a settlement and conciliation.

The parties, however, have not reached any amicable agreement.

Since 2002, Buendia said he has been inconvenienced and disturbed by Go’s activities, especially that their houses are just adjacent to each other.

He said Go, the owner of Gap Mobile Disco, has been using his house for the operation of his disco mobile business.

Standard of serenity

“These activities flout the standard of serenity and tranquility of a village community. The plaintiff had exerted all efforts in order to abate the nuisance, However, that was futile,” the plaintiff said.

Buendia, initially reported Go’s activities to the barangay in 2004. He said Go seemed to heed to the request as the noise coming from the latter’s residence became minimal for quite some time.

However, Buendia said Go continued to conduct noisy activities for his mobile disco business in the vicinity. In 2005, Buendia requested the Office of the City Treasurer to conduct an investigation on GAP Disco Mobile. But then City Treasurer Tessie Camarillo purportedly did not act on Buendia’s complaint, saying that no noise pollution was coming from Go’s house when personnel from the City Treasurer’s Office conducted an inspection.

In 2012, Buendia got a break after Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama issued a closure order to stop the operation of GAP Disco Mobile.

However, Rama lifted the closure order 40 days later for the reason that GAP Disco Mobile has transferred its office to another location.

Buendia said Go nevertheless continues to operate his mobile disco business at his residence as manifested by the Lupong Tagapamayapa who conducted an inspection at the area in January 2013.

“Considering that complainant’s recourse to administrative remedies proved to be futile, complainant is constrained to seek relief to this honorable court in order to protect his rights,” the plaintiff said.

For one year, Buendia said he was forced to live in another house to avoid the inconvenience caused by Go.

Earlier this year, renowned Cebuano environmentalist and lawyer Antonio Oposa filed a lawsuit on noise pollution as a violation of the Clean Air Act and Article 55 of the Revised Penal Code (alarms and scandal.)

Oposa said that noise produced by mobile discos and bailes are above the prescribed legal limit for human habitation.

The readings taken show that the noise levels are well above the legal standards set by the Clean Air Act and the Pollution Control Law. The findings of the monitoring team reveal that the unwanted sound emitted by these amplified sound falls in the area of 50 to 90 decibels or roughly the sound of a truck horn,” Oposa was quoted as saying.