LAND CLAIMANTS SUE CITY, DECORP

Jurisdiction of city over lands of public domain questioned

A SHOUTING match ensued on Friday before the Regional Trial Court in connection with a civil case filed by four occupants of public lands in Bonuan Binloc over an attempt by the city government to have the electricity supply to their establishments disconnected.

Judge Genoveva Coching-Maramba of Branch 44, at whose sala the drama unfolded, was compelled to go down from the bench in order to listen intently to the arguments being simultaneously presented by both sides.

The plaintiffs, led by Mayor Roy Macanlalay of Calasiao and represented  by lawyers Juan Siapno, Teofilo Gallang and Feliciano Bautista, sought the Issuance of Preliminary Injunction with Temporary Restraining Order on  the disconnection notice issued by the Dagupan Electric Corporation (DeCorp) upon the request of the city’s Task Force on Housing and Urban Poor Resettlement.

The other plaintiffs include Mario Sandoval, Dave Calaguio and Juanito Torio who, like Macanlalay, are claimants/occupants of public lands which they all insisted to be outside the coverage of Proclamation No. 98 as they are parts of the public domain of which the city government of Dagupan has no jurisdiction over.

The judge eventually deemed both sides to have submitted their positions for her resolution. 

Arguments

Proclamation No. 98, issued by then President Diosdado Macapagal in 1964, declared a 72-hectare area of the Bonuan Beach as National Children’s Park, now Tondaligan Park.

Defendants in the civil case are the task force represented by its chair person, City Engineer Virginia Rosario, and Decorp.

The task force was represented by City Legal Officer George Mejia while Decorp was represented by its legal counsel, Atty. Numeriano Tanopo Jr.

During the hearing, lawyer Siapno accused the city government of using Decorp to harass his clients, all owners of property in Bonuan Binloc, some of whom he said were residing in the area for too long and paying their real property taxes.

Siapno, president of the Bonuan Binloc Coastal Neighborhood Association, sought the issuance of a TRO in order to restrain Rosario’s task force and Decorp from cutting the power connection of his clients.

Mejia dismissed  Siapno’s assertion saying he does not see any clear legal right on the part of the plaintiffs to ask for TRO, pointing out that for anyone entitled to a TRO, one must show his or her clear legal rights.

Certainly, he said, it is not legal to construct a structure or building whether it is inside or outside Proclamation 98 because it still it is standing on a public land.

“The construction by the plaintiff on a public land is illegal per se because it was built without the required building permit as provided for under the National Building Code and its implementing rules and regulations,” he said.

 Mejia maintained that the city mayor, through the city engineer, has the right to issue an order for the demolition of the building of the plaintiffs under construction.

“For efficient, effective and economical governance, the purpose of which is the general welfare of the city and its inhabitants… the city mayor shall, among other things, require owners of illegally constructed houses or structures to obtain the necessary permits, impose  taxes, fines and penalties as may be enforced by law or ordinance and in case of violation of this provision  can order the demolition or removal of said house or construction within the period prescribed by law,” he said, paraphrasing the Local Government Code.

Mejia branded the plaintiffs as professional squatters which in legal parlance refer to individuals or groups who occupy lands without expressed consent of the landowner and who have big source of income, adding that these (plaintiffs) are all rich and influential people.

Siapno retorted that during the time of Major Benjamin Lim, the city government never touched the plaintiffs because it knew that the city had no business as far as lands outside Proclamation 98 is concerned.

To prove his point, he pointed to his fellow lawyer to his left, Teofilo Gallang, who was  chairman of the Task Force on Comprehensive Survey Recovery and Management of Public Lands during Lim’s watch, who attested they did not do anything because the lands being claimed belonged to the public domain.

With regards to lands within Proclamation 98, the city can have a jurisdiction over the structures constructed therein, except those constructed in the year 1963, Siapno said.

“There is a decision of the CENRO (Community Environment and Natural Resources Office) which states that the city government has no jurisdiction over these people,” he said.

But Mejia said that was only Siapno’s legal opinion.

At the same time, Siapno questioned why the city government was canceling Tax Declarations that were issued by it and also disconnecting electricity.

For his part, Tanopo observed that the argument of both sides bordered on the question of jurisdiction and felt that the city was using Decorp for its own purposes.

The opposing counsels submitted the matter for resolution by the court. -LM

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