Municipal court resolves village tennis courts row

By LITO RULONA
Correspondent .

The Municipal Trial Circuit Court (MTCC) Branch-7 has conducted an on-site trial to resolve the issues between the local officials of Barangay Nazareth and the officers of the Nazareth Lawn Tennis Club (NLTC) inside the contested area Thursday afternoon.

MTCC Branch-7 Presiding Judge Caroline Damasing and her staff summoned the two parties along with their legal counsels and set-up some rulings in the use of the area for the public and not for tennis players alone.

During the trial, Damasing collected their own schedule between the two contesting parties for the usage of the tennis court. Of the three tennis court, the initial ruling cited to use only the two courts and set-aside the usage of the area where a structure claimed to have been constructed illegally located.

“Violation for the usage of set schedule would be charged for contempt of court,” she said.

Last week, Mayor Oscar Moreno said the city government will not allow the demolition of a tennis court facility in Barangay Nazareth.

In opposing the demolition, Moreno pointed to Section 31 of Presidential Decree No. 957 as amended which read in part that areas reserved for parks, playgrounds and recreational areas “shall be non-alienable public lands and non-buildable.”

However, the court said the area that was contested between the city government and the barangay officials should be resolve by themselves only considering that the part of the open space would be used for development.

Barangay Nazareth chairman Maximo Rodriguez III for his part said that they allowed the usage of the two courts as suggested by the court for the public while the other remaining court is subject for the clearance and the go-signal of the national government in the implementation of the proposed P21-million Barangay Hall and other offices.

“Kanang remaining court mohatag na usab kami og counter-proposal kang Mayor Oscar Moreno para naa po’y magamit alang sa proposed multi-purpose barangay hall og uban nga mga opisina for public services,” he said.

Earlier, two criminal cases before the City Prosecutor’s Office and contempt of court at the MTCC-7 on Monday against officers and legal counsel of NLTC.