Lao’s faux pas: Oops, no lawyer yet

By NITZ ARANCON
Correspondent .

THIS is why lawyers are needed.

Councilor Teodulfo Lao Jr.’s pronouncements last week about city hall’s controversial contract with Mega Integrated Agro-Livestocks Farm Corp. were made by a layman who tried to make sense of a Supreme Court ruling in favor of his group’s 11-year-old petition.

This became evident as Lao revealed that he and the other petitioners were still looking for a new legal counsel for the case because the lawyer who filed the petition on their behalf — former mayor Manolo Tagarda Jr. — died in 2013.

Last week, Lao asserted that the SC decision meant that the city hall-Mega Farm contract on the re-development and management of the local government’s market and terminal facilities in Lapasan was nullified, an interpretation dismissed by lawyer and former vice mayor Antonio Soriano who serves as Mega Farm’s spokesman.

But despite being corrected by Soriano, Lao maintained his position and even added that the SC decision also meant that a regional court would soon start proceedings to determine the cost of re-development so that city hall could pay back Mega Farm and take over the management of the Agora facilities.

Lao said it was Soriano, a lawyer, who made a mistake in interpreting the SC ruling. He said his was not an interpretation but an “understanding” of what he read.

But nowhere in the 20-page decision did the SC state that the contract was nullified. Neither did it order a regional court to determine how much Mega Farm spent in giving the market and terminal a facelift.

Its decision reads in part: “Wherefore, the petition is partially granted. On the dismissal of the complaint for the declaration of nullify of the redevelopment of Agora market and terminal contract under build-operate-transfer scheme and all ordinances, resolutions and motions for the city council relative thereto with prayer for Temporary Restraining Order, and Preliminary Injunction with Damages, the March 30, 2009 Resolution and May 11, 2009 Order of the  Regional Trial Court  in Civil Case No. 2009-076 are reversed. The denial of the issuance of the Temporary Restraining Order and/or Writ of preliminary Injunction is affirmed. Let this case be remanded to the Regional Trial court of Origin for further proceedings.”

A lawyer not involved in the case, Mateo Delegencia, said a city hall takeover of the management of the facilities cannot be rushed because the SC decision did not mean nullification of the contract contrary to how Lao understood it.

Delegencia pointed out that the case was remanded to the lower court. “Ang kahulogan anang remand or remanded ibalik sa court of origin ang maong kaso aron ipadayon ang husay,” he explained.

He said it also means that Lao and the other petitioners would still need to prove before the regional court their allegations that the contract was signed by the then mayor Constantino Jaraula without authority from the city council.

Lawyer Rey  Raagas, a former president of the local chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, made the same points.

“Husayon pa ang merit ana didto sa court of origin. Wala pay nakada-og ug wala pa napilde ana nga kaso kay ang decision sa Supreme Court. Remanded man — bo-ot pasabot ibalik kana sa court of origin for further proceedings,” Raagas said.

Meanwhile, Lao said he and other petitioners were looking for a lawyer who is comparable to the late mayor Tagarda so they could submit a “manifestation” before the sala of Judge Flor Abbu of the Regional Trial Court Branch 17.

“Ma-o bitaw nga nakada-og kami sa among appeal sa Supreme Court kay si Tagarda among abogado nga maayong laki gyud,” Lao said.

He said he hopes that Judge Abbu would start the proceedings as soon as possible so that city hall can stage the takeover.

“Kining among paningkamot, alang ra man kini sa katawhan kay katawhan gyud ang tag-iya anang merkado ug bus terminal,” he said.