CH lawyers insist court should suspend SCR closure hearings pending CA decision

City Hall lawyers have submitted formal arguments on their request for Regional Trial Court Judge Soliver Peras to suspend the hearing of the civil case filed against Mayor Tomas Osmeña over the closure of the Cebu City South Coastal Road.

Joseph Bernaldez of the Cebu City Attorney’s Office insisted that Peras should refrain from conducting the hearing of the case for permanent injunction filed by Alfredo Sipalay against the mayor pending the outcome of their petition for review of the court’s decision that they have filed before the Court of Appeals.

Peras then gave Sipalay five days to submit his comment on the City Hall’s motion.

Osmeña had limited the use of the south coastal road April in last year to those vehicles with security pass, but he was forced to reopen it to all vehicles after Peras granted Sipalay’s petition for a preliminary mandatory injunction.

But still, Sipalay wanted the court to make the opening of the south coastal road to all motorists permanent through the issuance of a permanent injunction order against Osmeña and other city officials.

Osmeña accused Peras of being bias in favor of Sipalay and other petitioners of the case because the judge issued the order for the reopening of the south coastal road to all motorists without getting their side.

But Peras said the court gave Osmeña enough time to argue with the petitioners but the mayor failed to do so.

Aside from asking for the hearing’s suspension, Bernaldez also reminded Peras of their motion for him to inhibit from the case because they believed that he is no longer impartial about the issue.

Bernaldez claimed that when Osmeña regulated the use of the south coastal road, the mayor was only guided by a belief that his order was sanctioned the Local Government Code.

But Sipalay said Osmeña’s closure order was illegal because it violated the general welfare clause of the Constitution. – Rene U. Borromeo