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[av_heading heading=’Court denies motion to execute decision nullifying ordinance ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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ILOILO City – Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 39 denied the motion for the issuance of a writ of execution filed by a group of petitioners who succeeded in getting a favorable decision declaring null and void a city ordinance that allowed Barangay Camalig in Jaro district to host transport terminals.
In a Dec. 5 decision, RTC Branch 39’s Judge Victorino Maniba Jr. denied the motion “for lack of merit.”
The motion was filed by petitioners Juna Labordo, et al. in Civil Case No. 14-32247. They were represented by Atty. Daniel Cartagena.
The city government welcomed the court’s denial of the motion. According to City Administrator Hernando Galvez, the court agreed with the City Legal Office’s position that the decision of Branch 39 nullifying Regulation Ordinance 2014-049 was not an injunction, thus it was not immediately executory.
In a decision dated Sept. 26 this year, Maniba found “very persuasive” the arguments raised by Labordo and other petitioners against Regulation Ordinance 2014-049 – an ordinance amending the Perimeter Boundary Ordinance (Regulation Ordinance 2013-3444) that identified several barangays as locations for transport terminals.
Barangays Camalig and Buhang were not identified in Regulation Ordinance 2013-3444 passed in Aug. 27, 2013.
With this development, said Galvez, Ordinance 2014-049 is presumed valid. The city is also taking the case against Ordinance 2014-049 to the Court of Appeals.
Galvez expressed confidence that the appellate court will overturn RTC Branch 39’s decision nullifying Regulation Ordinance 2014-049.
Regulation Ordinance 2014-049 was approved by the Sangguniang Panlungsod in Jan. 14, 2014. According to Maniba, this was passed to favor Vallacar Transit Corp., operator of Ceres buses.
The approval of the franchise ordinance (2014-015) for the Ceres bus terminal in Barangay Camalig on Jan. 7, 2014 – a week before Regulation Ordinance 2013-3444 was amended – bolstered the argument that the ordinance favored Vallacar, according to the court.
Under Regulation Ordinance 2013-3444, only the following barangays were allowed to host transport terminals for vehicles from northern Iloilo (North Area): Tagbak, Balantang and Buntatala.
The court also found out that no public hearings were conducted for Regulation Ordinance 2014-049.
It noted the “haste and utter disregard” of existing requirements to pass an ordinance.
The city government may argue that Regulation Ordinance 2014-015 already amended the Perimeter Boundary Ordinance (Regulation Ordinance 2013-3444), according to Maniba, “but we have to remember that amendment by implication is frowned upon and this seems to be the case of Regulation Ordinance 2014-015.”
The “inescapable conclusion, therefore, is that Regulation Ordinance 2014- 049 is an invalid ordinance because it was enacted to favor a particular person or entity, an act proscribed by Republic Act 7160 or the Local Government Code,” stressed Maniba./PN
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