City Hall wants judge handling Citilink case to inhibit

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City government is seeking the inhibition of the judge handling the civil case filed by the management of One Citilink Terminal for allegedly showing bias in favor of the complainant.

Lawyer Rey Gealon, representing the city government, said that Regional Trial Court Judge Generosa Labra is showing signs of partiality towards the complainant based on the initial hearing of the case.

“Karon unta paminawon sa labaw’ng manghuhukom nga mo-inhibit lang siya sa mao nga kaso… unya naa may leaning nga ma-issue ang TRO mao na nga mas maayo to show impartiality base sa hearing sa August 7 nga unta mo-inhibit na lang siya aron ma-raffle ni ngadto sa lain nga korte,” said Gealon.

The terminal management through its manager Felipe Barrientos Jr. asked the court to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent the city government from implementing the closure order issued by Mayor Michael Rama.

The complainant said they were not afforded due process before the closure order was issued.

“Wala nay business permit adtong kasoha so wala na dapat TRO. Number one, na-implement na ang closure order. Number two, wala nay katungod nga mangayo og TRO tungod kay the right co-existed with the right to engage into business and the right to engage into business expired on April 20, 2015 kay wala naman sila’y business permit,” said Gealon.

Rama was named respondent in the civil case along with the members of the Prevention, Restoration, Order, Beautification, Enhancement and some unidentified persons.

Gealon said that during the August 7 hearing, Labra urged them to settle the case out of court.

“In fact, the Honorable Presiding Judge subtly hinted that a temporary restraining order will eventually be issued if no such settlement will be reached despite the glaring fact that there is nothing more to restrain in the instant case considering that the subject closure order was already fully implemented and that there is absolutely no more right on the part of the plaintiff because plaintiff’s business permit already expired on April 20, 2015,” read the city government’s motion.

 “A judge should take no part in a proceeding where the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned,” it added.

Members of PROBE padlocked the terminal on July 28 upon the order of the mayor. — (FREEMAN)