Owner asks court to order police to return vehicle they impounded

The owner of a sports utility vehicle, which the police had earlier impounded on suspicion of being stolen, yesterday filed a civil case for replevin against the regional director of the Traffic Management Group and three of his men.

The plaintiff, Ernesto Guisadio, filed the case at the Regional Trial Court against TMG regional director Abdalun Awilun, SPO4 Godofredo Puyat, PO2 Eddie Marohum, and PO1 Serge Maceren.

A case for replevin is a procedure to recover possession of a property or the re-delivery of that property, if wrongly seized, to the owner.

Guisadio asked the court to issue a writ of replevin immediately to compel the respondents to return his Isuzu Crosswind Wagon, which TMG men had allegedly impounded after it was apprehended last August 31 in Lapu-Lapu City on suspicion that it was stolen.

The TMG men flagged down the vehicle because there was no validating sticker on its windshield causing them to suspect that there might be illegal transferring of plates and tampering of chassis numbers. The driver then was Marjo Baring, said Guisadio.

Guisadio said he acquired the vehicle from Willy Baring but the traffic officials impounded it without due investigation and without granting him the opportunity to air his side on the matter.

He said Nestor Yu was the original owner of the car, which was later sold to Rosalie Amolo of Tabunok, Talisay City on July 7, last year. Amolo then sold it to Luther Bartolome who in turn sold it to Baring. It was finally sold to him last August 4, said Guisadio.

Guisadio contended that TMG officials have no right–legal, moral, or any other–to put the vehicle in their custody because it was never a subject of any case, not in the list of alerted vehicles for being stolen, and no tampered chassis and engine numbers.

If there was any infraction of the law, the TMG officials should have filed the complaint in court to determine whether there was legal basis for impounding the vehicle. Guisadio said.

The vehicle is now impounded in an open space at the compound of the Cebu City Police Office headquarters, where the TMG office is also located.

In asking for the return of the vehicle, Guisadio said that if it is not returned to him, there would "clear and present danger that it would be deteriorated...will be rendered unserviceable, if not cannibalized or left to rot..." – Fred P. Languido