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CEBU CITY, Philippines - The court has denied the petition of a group of lawyers requesting a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Cebu provincial government?s collection of parking fees from motorists who park inside the Capitol compound and the installation of cameras aimed at the Integrated Bar of the Philippine?s (IBP) building within the complex.
Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Silvestre Maamo of Branch 17 said the only basis that the Cebu Lawyers for Unity and Brotherhood (Club) members cited were the actions of Capitol officials and the fact that the lawyers had filed a declaration of nullity case against the Capitol ordinance that authorizes the collection or parking fees.
Maamo said that if he issued a TRO now, the court would have ?virtually accepted? that the collection of parking fees and installation of cameras was illegal.
?There would, in effect, be a pre-judgment of the main (injunction) case and a reversal of the rule on the burden of proof since it would assume the proposition, which the plaintiffs are duty bound to prove, and show its merits,? the judge said.
Maamo also said that the issuance of TRO will run counter to the rule that the laws, ordinances and official acts of the local government unit are presumed to be valid unless and until the court declares the contrary in clear and unequivocal terms.
He said the Capitol has not yet traversed Club?s allegations that the ordinances and the Capitol officials? actions were illegal.
Club, along with lawyer Elias Espinoza, filed the declaration of nullity case last month, together with the petition for injunction and a TRO.
The lawyers claimed that the Capitol has no power to confer upon any body, such as its Economic Enterprise Council (ECC) ? the body that came up with the pay-parking scheme ? the ability to collect taxes and other charges like parking fees.
The lawyers said that the EEC does not even have the power to declare the province?s property of public dominion as a pay-parking area.
The ECC passed a resolution on September 12, 2008 imposing a pay parking scheme for vehicles parked in the Capitol area. The Cebu Provincial Board approved the scheme through an ordinance.
Lawyers who often visit the IBP building and the courthouse in the Capitol compound criticized the scheme, saying lawyers were already doing the public a service and yet had to pay parking to render that service.
They also said the provincial government did not follow procedural requirements that should allow them to enact such ordinances.
The ECC is scheduled to convene today to discuss, among others, the request of the IBP Cebu City and Cebu Province chapters for the issuance of a ?seasonal? pay parking rate.
Rory Jon Sepulveda, provincial consultant on information, revenue generation and compliance, said that the EEC, in which Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia is chairperson, has agreed to the IBP's need for the seasonal passes.
The body, however, still needed to discuss the fee for such a pass, and how to go about its issuance.
A seasonal pass, which Capitol employees already enjoy, allows a motorist to pay a one-time fee in exchange for parking at the Capitol compound without being hassled for hourly parking for a period of six months or one year.
