Rival politicians provided side tensions in the impending court-ordered demolition of houses in sitio San Miguel, barangay Apas, Cebu City.
Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama and south district Rep. Tomas Osme帽a made separate visits to the community of almost 168 households set to be demolished yesterday.
Rama visited the area early morning, while Osme帽a went there around 1 p.m.
Osmena gave 15 boxes of ponkan oranges and financial aid to families who are relying on help from the Philippine Commision of the Urban Poor (PCUP).
Both Rama and Osme帽a, said they didn鈥檛 want the demolition to happen and that the families need more time to relocate.
Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young, who came with Osme帽a, said they are assisting the urban poor community as they believe the settlers deserve to occupy the contested land. He said they engaged the services of lawyer Ben Militar for this.
Militar applied for Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) fromthe Regional Trial Court Branch 10 presided by Judge Soliver Peras.
The judge did not issue a TRO but ordered a reprieve of the demolition pending his ruling on the TRO petition.
The conflict stems from the ownership claim of Mario Godinez over the land, which was recognized by the court in 2002.
The court sheriff was at the site with laborers ready for a demolition but pulled out.
Osme帽a told reporters that he was there to 鈥渙bserve.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檓 just here to observe, I will not prove myself to anyone.鈥�
Upon learning that the court ordered the reprieve of the demolition orderRama said, 鈥淢angutana sa ta sa court kon unsa buhaton. There鈥檚 a deferment in the implementation sa demolition.鈥� 鈥淚t is not yet over,鈥� he added. Tweeny M. Malinao and Careen L. Malabay