NAGA CITY – Dark clouds hanged over city hall last Wednesday (Aug. 23) when sheriffs served notice for the city government of Naga and other offices located thereat to vacate the premises within five days upon receipt of the court’s writ of execution.

        The writ of execution pending appeal was issued by the sala of Regional Trial Court Judge Felimon B. Montenegro following final resolution of the ejectment case with money claims filed by the heirs of the late Jose and Helen Mariano against city hall.

        The writ was accordingly accompanied with a notice to vacate and a copy of the notice of garnishment addressed to the Manager of the Naga branch of the Land Bank of the Philippines, the city government’s depository bank.

        The notices, signed by Sheriff Jorge B. Lopez, were issued while City Mayor Jesse M. Robredo was on a speaking engagement in Manila.

        The notice of garnishment specifically directed the Land Bank “not to deliver, transfer or otherwise dispose of such property (i.e. goods, effects, interest in stocks and shares, and any other personal properties) in your possession or under your control belonging to the herein defendant, City of Naga, sufficient to cover the amount mentioned in the writ.”

        It further states that “(i)n case sufficient personal property of the defendant cannot be found to satisfy the amount of the said judgment, you (the sheriff) are hereby directed to levy the real property of said defendant and to sell the same or so much thereof in the manner provided for by law for the satisfaction of said judgment.”

        Reached in Manila through the phone, City Mayor Robredo Wednesday night said he was very sad about the development.

        He said he has been fighting the battle not for himself but for the people of Naga City who suffer the loss beyond imagination.

        Once ejected, Nagueños will be deprived of a city government office and its services, aside from being dissipated with huge amount of taxpayers’ money to pay off the cost of eviction and rental as demanded, he said. “Naga will bleed even more if we are left with no other option but to build at the quickest time possible a new city hall so that frontline services may not be prejudiced any further”, the mayor added.

        In that case, other priorities should be set aside for an indefinite period and more services will remain paralyzed, concerned department heads at city hall expressed their sentiments.

        The mayor, however, advised Nagueños to stay calm as city hall is doing everything to protect the interest of the city and its residents.

        Vice Mayor Gabriel H. Bordado volunteered a positive note saying that after the dark clouds will come the rain to make the grass outside even greener. He said that the war is not yet over for there is a higher court that will resolve what seems to be an insurmountable problem.

        Meanwhile, the Marianos, led by Danilo, the eldest of the heirs, reportedly sponsored a mass of thanksgiving on the same moment that the writ of execution was being served.

        He was quoted as saying that their winning the ejectment case was an act of God for which they are grateful.

The case
        Last July 20, 2005, Judge Montenegro favorably acted on the ejectment case filed by the heirs of Jose and Helen Mariano. The Marianos claim that the 5-hectare land on which city hall and other government offices stand since 1954 remain to be theirs in the absence of a clear proof of a deed of donation or sale.

        Montenegro thereon ordered city hall and other offices such as the LTO, Philippine Postal Office, Bureau of Fire, DOLE, and the IBP, among others, “to peacefully surrender and deliver its physical possession to the plaintiffs-appellants (Mariano heirs), including all the improvements and structures erected thereon… and for the City of Naga to pay (the Marianos) the amount of P2,500,000.00 per month by way of reasonable compensation for the use and occupancy of the property in question reckoned from November 30, 2003 until such time that defendant-appelle (City of Naga) shall have actually vacated the subject property.”

        Further the court ordered city hall to pay the plaintiff-appellants Attorney’s fees amounting to P587,159.60, and for city hall to pay the cost of the suit.

The Appeal
        City hall appealed the case before the Court of Appeals and sought for a temporary restraining order which was granted.

        Montenegro then noted that the lapse of more than ten months from the expiration of the Temporary Restraining Order last Oct. 5, 2005 is an indication that the Court of Appeals was no longer inclined to issue any Injunctive Writ, hence his order for a writ of execution pending appeal for which the lower court is empowered to do so under the circumstances.

        City Mayor Robredo said that as the incumbent mayor, it behooves upon him to protect the interest of the city and its properties. “The errors or imperfections that may have been committed in the past, as alleged, was something that our incumbent administration inherited from past administration since the 22-year old city was erected, but whose interest we should protect with all the legal measures at our disposal, for the greater welfare of our people,” he explained.

        City officials, including the mayor, come and go, but it is the people who would be left with a local government unit that has been stripped of its symbol of authority, basic structures and facilities, frontline services and dissipated funds, including money obligations which should have otherwise been appropriated for public services and facilities,” the mayor stressed.

        He pointed out that city hall was already there, after the supposed intent or deed of donation, even before he was born.

        Meanwhile, other affected offices within the contested property expressed strong apprehension over their fate following the court’s order.

        Many of these offices would have to temporarily shelve their regular transactions, while others would hastily transfer to their regional offices in Legazpi City or elsewhere so as not to impede any longer their mandate to deliver services.

        Meanwhile, the Hall of Justice that is also situated on the city hall compound will conduct its business as usual as it has been manifested by the Marianos that such building and its properties would be exempted from ejection.

        Bicol Mail noted, however, that in that same manifestation as quoted by the same writ of execution, the buildings and lots occupied by city hall and the National Bureau of Investigation have been intended to be exempted from possession by the Marianos pending appeal before the Court of Appeals. Until now, city hall is still awaiting resolution by the Court of Appeals.