Judge stops sheriff from implementing order vs City

CEBU, Philippines - Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 9 Judge James Stewart Ramon Himalaloan yesterday ordered court sheriff Antonio Bellones to stop implementing the writ of execution against the City of Cebu for the payment of the Rallos property in barangay Sambag 2.

It was Bellones who demanded for the City to pay P133.4 million to the heirs of the late Fr. Vicente Rallos. The following day, he also issued a notice of garnishment to the four depository banks of Cebu City.

Himalaloan ordered Bellones to stop his move to garnish the city’s money. Instead, Bellones was asked to concentrate on processing his retirement documents as he is scheduled to retire on October 18.

Aside from judge’s order, Bellones is also facing a problem after Mayor Michael Rama, though the City Legal Office, filed a case against him for grave abuse of authority and corruption before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas.

Rama claimed it was “very highly questionable” for Bellones to issue the notice of garnishment against the city without waiting for the 15-day period to lapse.“Mora’g dunay gidalian mao nga nagkasayop-sayop hinoon ang notice of garnishment,” Rama said, adding that the notice of garnishment that was issued by Bellones last September 27 was dated May 29, 2009.

Bellones said he is ready to face the complaint.

Himalaloan directed lawyer Jeoffrey Joaquino, the overall clerk of court of RTC in Cebu City, “to amend the writ of execution as to the name of the executing sheriff he may deem best to enforce the said writ.”

Joaquino said he will wait for Bellones to return from Manila for them to discuss Himalaloan’s order. The implementation of the writ of execution for the payment of the lot will be raffled among the six RTC sheriffs.

For his part, Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young is suggesting for Rama to allocate an amount for the payments of the city’s obligations, like the properties of the Ralloses, Roque Ting and some others, even if the city is still fighting these before the courts.  (FREEMAN)