Homeowners seek appellate court intervention to stop demolition

CEBU, Philippines - A homeowners association in Barangay Apas has asked the Court of Appeals to nullify a writ of demolition issued by the Regional Trial Court in Cebu City against them.

Members of the Archangels Residents Mergence Inc. (ARMI) through their counsel Benjamin Militar have filed a petition before the appellate court seeking to nullify the demolition order issued by RTC branch 9 Judge Olegario Sarmiento Jr.

Sarmiento earlier gave the 168 families in San Miguel, Apas until the end of the month to voluntarily vacate the lot claimed by Mariano Godinez.

The court in 1997 declared that Godinez is the real owner of the property occupied by the members of the homeowners association. Godinez was able to prove his ownership of the property through a reconstituted title issued in 1962.

In a 37-page petition filed before the CA, the homeowners association asked the CA to issue a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to restrain the RTC from implementing the demolition order.

They asked the appellate court to nullify the writ of demolition “for being issued in violation of the due process and lack of jurisdiction.”

The petitioners also asked the CA to issue a writ of mandamus against the RTC and its sheriff to respect the proprietary rights of the homeowners over their homes.

“The sole issue raised before this honorable court is: Can a Regional Trial Court enforce a writ of demolition against the houses of person who were never parties to the case, who were never included in the judgment, were never mentioned in the order of execution, and who by the specific praying of the plaintiff during the trial should not be included and thus barred in intervening in the case on the principal ground that their cause should be litigated elsewhere?” the prefatory statement of the petition filed before the CA states.

The homeowners believe that there is an urgency of raising the petition before the Court of Appeals following the deadline set by Sarmiento.

“The respondent court did not acquire jurisdiction to include the petitioner in the case much less its execution. It is clear that was intended were the officials of PNP and other Armed Forces personnel, aside from the fact that no demand was ever made on members of petitioners, unlike the demands made against officials of the PNP, the decision itself defined what issued were tackled in the case,” the petition says.

Within the lot claimed by Godinez is situated the PNP Regional Training School and the Armed Forces of the Philippines Training Center.

According to the lawyer of the homeowners, the petitioners are not mere squatters or trespassers because they were officially allowed by the AFP to build their homes near the camp to allow enlisted men to live with their families. Most of them reside in the place for over 50 years now. — (FREEMAN)