Pablo Garcia: Savior of the provincial lots (Part 3)

The last two provisions of the compromise agreement contained in a writ of execution issued by the Supreme Court dated December 4, 1974:

5. Declaring the City of Cebu and all its present and past officers free from liabilities to third persons in connection with the aforementioned lots, which liabilities if any, shall be assumed by the Province of Cebu;

6. Ordering the Register of Deeds of the City of Cebu to cancel the certification of titles in the name of the City of Cebu covering the lots enumerated in the second paragraph of this order and to issue new ones in lieu thereof in the name of the Province of Cebu.

The Court of First Instance of Cebu, through its presiding officer Judge Alfredo Marigomen, rendered judgment dated May 30, 1979 in favor of Atty. Pablo P. Garcia and against the Province of Cebu, declaring that the former is entitled to recover attorney’s fees the amount of P30,000.

The judgment of Judge Marigomen was appealed to the Court of Appeals, the Intermediate Appellate Court on October 18, 1985 affirming the decision of Judge Marigomen. However, the IAC fixed the amount of attorney’s fees at 5 percent, instead of 30 percent prescribed by the Court of First Instance. This was appealed to the Supreme Court, which on January 29, 1987 set aside the decision of the Intermediate Appellate and reinstated the order of the Court of First Instance. The lawyer’s fee of P30,000 granted by the Supreme Court remains unclaimed by Atty. Garcia.

Atty. Garcia did not only claim his rightful and just attorney’s fee, he also spent personal funds for the filing of the petition for the issuance of writ of injunction way back in 1965 and all the incidental expenses in protecting the writ of injunction being quashed or reversed by the higher tribunals.

The quixotic quest for justice for the recovery of the donated provincial lots of Governor Espina (who resigned on September 13, 1969 to run for the Senate and won) and Atty. Garcia was tipped in their favor when on January 31, 1973, Atty. Alfredo G. Baguia, provincial attorney of Cebu, filed a complaint in intervention stating that the Province of Cebu and the Provincial Board of Cebu were joining or uniting with original plaintiff, former governor of Cebu Rene Espina.

Former governor Osmundo Genson Rama, former vice governor Salutario Fernandez and former board members Leonardo Enad, Guillermo Legazpi and Rizalina Migallos, through the Provincial Attorney’s Office, adopted the causes, claims and positions in the original complaint filed by Governor Espina through lawyer Pablo P. Garcia. This paved the way for a compromise agreement and settled the conflict.

Among the lots returned to the Cebu Province is the one where Fuente Osmeña Circle is.

Pablo P. Garcia, the savior of the Cebu provincial lots, was born on September 21, 1925. He was elected board member in 1967, congressman of the 3rd district from 1987 to 1995, governor of Cebu from 1995 to 2004, and congressman of the 2nd district in 2007.