City eyes body to deal with road lot owner

CEBU – The Cebu City Attorney’s Office has recommended for the creation of a committee that would negotiate with the Rallos family after the court ordered it to pay P83.1 million for the lot that was used by the city for public road in barangays Sambag 1 and Sambag II.

Acting city attorney Rodolfo Golez suggested that the body to be created should be composed of representatives from the city’s executive and legislative branches, like the city administrator’s office, treasurer’s office, city attorney’s office, among others.

Because the Supreme Court has already ruled that the city must pay the heirs of the late Rev. Fr. Vicente Rallos of the just compensation of the 4,654 square-meter property and the 12 percent interest for not promptly paying the amount, Golez said the question on whether the city will pay or not is no longer an issue.

During an executive session last January 21, the City Council agreed in principle that the city has to pay the Rallos heirs for the lots. However, the amount to be paid is yet to be determined.

An amount of P34,905,000 was already garnished from the city’s depository banks upon the order of the court sometime in 2001 and was turned over to the heirs of Rallos despite their pending appeal against the court’s decision that ordered the payment of P7,500 for every square meter of lot.

After several hearings, Regional Trial Court Branch 9 presiding judge Geraldine Faith Econg partially granted the motion of the heirs of Rallos and set the just compensation of the lot as P9,500 per square meter.

The city has elevated the matter to the Supreme Court hoping that it will reverse the trial court’s ruling, but the High Tribunal instead upheld the court’s decision.

The RTC has ordered the city to pay the heirs of Rallos the amount of P9,308,000 that represents the remaining price of the lots after the motion to increase the just compensation of the lot to P9,500 per square meter was granted.

Golez said that since the city has already paid the P34,905,000 way back in 2001 when the court ordered the garnishment of the city’s fund, such amount should no longer be included in the computation of the interest due.

“Per the city’s computation, as of September 2, 2008, the amount due was only around P16 million,” Golez said.

Court sheriff Antonio Bellones said that all in all, the city has to pay the Rallos heirs a total amount of P83,120,440, including annual interests, and since the city has already paid the amount of P34.9 million that was garnished from its depository banks in 2001, it has only to pay the remaining balance of P48,315,440.

The court sheriff explained the total price of the lot is P44,213,000 while the 12 percent interest per annum from September 2, 2001 to February 1, 2009 is P38,907 or a total of P83,120,440.

Likewise, Bellones said the city should pay P100,000 to the heirs of Rallos as attorney’s pay and litigation expenses. — Rene U. Borromeo/WAB (THE FREEMAN)