Home 
ONE OF the two towing companies contracted by the Cebu City government to enforce the city’s parking ordinances is fighting back against its critics.
Rose Fe Pagador, proprietor of Road Warrior Towing and Motor Services, filed a motion to dismiss the court case filed by 10 individuals, lead by Tinago barangay councilor Joel Garganera, against the contract between City Hall and the towing companies.
“Plaintiffs’ complaint blankets allegations that are purely fabricated or concocted and distortions of truth which are aimed to mislead and to injure,” said lawyer Perla Centino, who represents Road Warrior in the case.
In asking the court to dismiss the case, Pagador also demanded that the complainants pay her company P100,000 in exemplary damages and P100,000 in litigation expenses.
Centino said the contract Road Warrior entered into with the city government complied with the requisites of the law.
She also said that contrary to the allegations of complainants, Mayor Tomas Osmeña entered into the contract with the authority of the City Council.
Centino also said that the “sanctity of the constitutional precepts on transparency has not been transgressed” because the disbursement or payments of the share of the towing charges is not based on “whimsical valuation” by Road Warrior but on the rates determined in and passed through an ordinance passed by the City Council.
“Plaintiffs’ ostensible cause of action is actually an attack on the wisdom of such ordinances, for which the present complaint for injunction and damages is not the proper remedy and should be dismissed,” Centino said.
With the legitimacy of the contract and towing operations “established,” Centino said the complainants should not be reimbursed for the fees they had to pay from violating city traffic ordinances that the towing companies enforced.
“The plaintiffs should be made to answer for the damages suffered by the defendant because of their baseless and malicious complaint,” Centino said.
Regional Trial Court Judge Silvestre Maamo Jr. of branch 17 denied the petition for a temporary restraining order or writ of preliminary injunction filed by the complainants.
Maamo said the city had met the requirements of the Local Government Code in executing the contract.
The judge also said that ruling for the petition for the temporary restraining order in favor of the complainants would be tantamount to prejudging the main case filed against Osmeña, Vice Mayor Michael Rama, City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) executive officer Arnel Tancinco, the Citom board of directors, the City Treasurer’s Office, One Stop Towing Services proprietor Wildredo Evardome, and Pagador.
The complainants included Garganera, Garganera’s older brother Jay Garganera, Henreich Mendoza, Imelda Veloso, Ryan Hongria, Jerry Bandalan, Catalino Deiparine, Felix Taghoy Jr., Primitivo Velez Jr., Rhoelito Cinco, and Atillano Sadaya, all of whom claimed to have had a brush with the city’s contracted towing companies.
