Settlers at cemetery ask court to stop Rama from destroying their houses

CEBU, Philippines - The court has ordered Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and the City Council to respond to the motion for intervention filed by 37 families that were ordered to vacate their houses along M.J. Cuenco Avenue in line with the development of the Roman Catholic Cemetery known popularly as Doña Pepang Cemetery.

With the assistance of lawyer Benjamin Militar, the families filed an intervention to the civil case filed by former congressman Tomas Osmeña against Rama and the City Council.

The families said the city government cannot order them to vacate because they have reportedly paid rental.

“Since the cause of the ejectment case is non-payment of rentals and hereon petitioner-intervenors have been religiously paying their rentals, the abovementioned decision of the court does not include them,” the motion reads.

The affected families said that during the consultative meeting on January 22, 2015, lawyer Collin Rosell, head of the city’s Division for the Welfare of Urban Poor, presented to them “an adverse decision” dated January 23, 2008 urging them to vacate their lots within six months.

The decision Rosell was referring to was the decision in the complaint filed by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cebu against informal settlers who failed to pay rent.

The affected families stated, however, that they are not covered by the case because they paid rent to the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cebu.

They said they were surprised when Rosell informed them about the order to vacate Lot Nos. 111-A,111-B, 111-D, and Lot No. 1367, which are registered under the Roman Catholic Church of Cebu City.

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cebu and the Cebu City government agreed to enter into a deed of exchange of real property in particular to exchange the Osmeña Mausoleum Property with the Pasil property.

The affected families said their stay at the subject lots were due to a rental contract with the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cebu.

Osmeña earlier filed a case for prohibitory injunction before the court to stop Rama from closing the Osmeña Mausoleum, from destroying the cemetery, and from demolishing the homes of the informal settlers and evicting them without the compliance of the provisions under Republic Act 7279.

Osmeña alleged that sometime in August 2014, Rama announced through media that he would convert the cemetery into a park. He also allegedly ordered the informal settlers there to demolish their houses voluntarily.

But Osmeña said the destruction of the cemetery is beyond the powers of the mayor and that the demolition of the homes of the informal settlers violates the Constitution and Republic Act 7279 or the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992 because it was done without a court order.

The affected families, meanwhile, asked the court to stop Rama from ordering the removal, destruction and demolition of graves, tombs and niches and to order the mayor not to demolish their homes until the city complies with RA 7279 and the Constitution. – Mylen P. Manto/JMO (FREEMAN)