The decision of the Supreme Court to dismiss two administrative complaints against Judge Felimon Montenegro may have ended a chapter in the lower court battle for property ownership between the private claimants and the Naga City local government unit (LGU) but the far-reaching implication that the dismissal of the complaint had no relevance in reversing the regional trial court decision to eject all occupants inside the City Hall Complex sends chills down the spine.

        The dismissal decision of the Supreme Court in an En Banc resolution came on June 27, 2006, almost a year after Bicol Mail Editor Jose B. Perez was slapped with contempt by Montenegro who was reacting on a banner story that the latter found derogating his name and the court.

        The banner story showed the allegations of a certain driver who had overheard conversations that Montenegro was receiving favor and bribe from the property claimants who are wrangling with the Naga City LGU.

        Without bail provision in the judge’s contempt decision, Perez was castigated to serve 90 days in prison, the penalty imposed by Montenegro, which was aside from P30,000 fine. But the editor’s counsel was finally granted the petition to post P50,000 bail after Perez spent seven days at the Naga City District Jail.

        Fast-forward, several months after the contempt conviction was handed to Perez and the surfacing of three poisoned letters that accused Montenegro of accepting bribe in exchange of favorable decision served to the Marianos (the private property claimants of the contested donated five-hectare property where the City Hall Complex stands), Montenegro was ordered by the Supreme Court to be relieved of his executive position at the regional trial court of Naga City. The Supreme Court then was under the stewardship of then Chief Justice Hilario Davide. The Supreme Court cited Mayor Jesse Robredo’s and Perez’s administrative complaints as bases.

        Back to where the buck of the unfinished land battle has stopped between the Marianos and the Naga City LGU, it would now be for the higher court to decide whether or not the order of ejectment issued by Montenegro on June 20, 2005 would materialize against the interests of the Naga City LGU and other governmental agencies, the Department of Justice included with the Hall of Justice built within the contested donated property.

        Based on court records, one of the major issues that convinced Montenegro to grant the Mariano petitioners their request of order of ejectment was the failure of the defendant Naga City LGU to produce in court the Deed of Donation signed by the original property owners.

        Using one more tact to defend its position, the Naga City LGU asserted the principle of lache. The principle of lache pertains to the continued possession of property that puts prescription on the land claim of the owner over time. In his decision, the judge was convinced that since the 1960s the Marianos did not fail to inform the Naga City LGU of their continued interest in the property through official correspondence sent to them.

        Looking into the running land battle between the Naga City LGU and the Mariano petitioners, the chill comes with the thought of the much-awarded LGU losing everything after occupying the premises for more than half century now. And that’s more than half-century history of the cityhood of Naga obliterated.

        To avert the imminent crisis of losing to the Marianos the contested donated property, the legal eagles under Robredo's wings must prepare brilliant moves and plan effective legal offensives, for the meantime that Montenegro’s order of ejectment continues to be valid and unchanged.