CITY HALL ASKED: OBSERVE RULES IN DEALING WITH BIZ PERMIT APPLICATIONS

SMPHI opposes Osmeña’s attempt to question TRO a court had issued

While admitting they are duty-bound to follow policies, SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SMPHI) said the Cebu City Government should also observe reasonable rules in dealing with business permit applications.

“There is no dispute that petitioners’ businesses are legitimate. A lawful business may not, under the guise of regulation, be unreasonably interfered with even by the exercise of police power,” read SMPHI’s pleading.

The mall operator’s pleading opposed Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s plea asking Judge Estela Alma Singco to reconsider her issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO).

The order prevented the City from shutting down SM Seaside City Cebu and 16 of its tenants.

Osmeña, through the City Legal Office, filed his omnibus motions that seek to lift the TRO and to deny outright the petition filed by SMPHI.

“From the very outset until now, petitioners do not have any right to be protected because it is undisputed that most of their business permits were effectively denied,” read the motion signed by City Lawyer Carlo Vincent Gimena.

In December last year, Singco, of the Regional Trial Court Branch 12, issued a 17-day TRO stopping Osmeña from closing SM Seaside City Cebu and 16 of its tenants, which ended on Jan. 7, 2018.

In the pleading, SMPHI, through ACCRA Law office, argued that Judge Singco was correct when she issued the TRO against the City Government.

The mall operator said that Mayor Osmeña cannot just use his supposed discretionary power “in an arbitrary and despotic manner.” It argued that the judge should not suspend the proceedings by merely the pending omnibus motion of the City Government. /