MANILA - The Department of Justice has indicted an Ilocos Sur mayor over the closure of a resort which resulted in the detention of a resort operator, her 4-year-old son and several employees.

In a 14-page resolution dated Jan. 15, 2019 but made public only on Wednesday, DOJ Undersecretary Deo Marco granted the appeal of complainant Virginia Nicole Savellano-Ong and ordered the filing of serious illegal detention and grave coercion charges against Mayor Josh Edward Cobangbang and 19 others.

Savellano-Ong had questioned the DOJ panel of prosecutors’ junking of her case despite the provincial prosecutor’s earlier finding of probable cause.

WHAT HAPPENED

The case stemmed from Mayor Cobangbang’s 2017 order to close government-owned Cabugao Beach Resort in Cabugao town, Ilocos Sur.

Savellano-Ong operated the resort, taking over from her industrial partner, Antonio Valera, who had a contract of lease with the municipality for the use of the resort since 2005.

But after Valera executed a quitclaim in 2016 thinking that Savellano-Ong will continue operating the resort, the municipality passed an ordinance authorizing the lease of the resort to another lessee.

The municipal treasurer then refused to receive payment of rentals from Savellano-Ong.

Instead, Mayor Cobangbang asked her to leave the premises in June 2017, according to the findings of the DOJ.

When Savellano-Ong refused, municipal employees in August 2017, without any court document, padlocked the resort leaving Savellano-Ong, her 4-year-old son and 7 employees trapped inside overnight.

DOJ RULING

In finding there was probable cause for the charge of serious illegal detention, the DOJ said Cobangbang acted beyond the scope of his authority because the municipal ordinance did not authorize him to close the resort, eject the occupants nor detain them.

“While it is undisputed that the Municipality owns CBR, it is equally true that ‘the [owner] of a property [has] no authority to use force and violence to eject alleged usurpers who were in prior physical possession of it. They must file the appropriate action in court and should take the law into their own hands,’” it ruled.

The DOJ also said the resort operator was justified in refusing to leave the property, especially since Valera had canceled his quitclaim.

The DOJ also found probable cause to charge respondents with grave coercion.

It held that when respondents padlocked the doors and chained the gates of the resort without a court order, “the prevention and compulsion was indeed effected with such display of force as would produce intimidation and control of the will of the offended party.”

If found guilty, Cobangbang and the other respondents face a maximum penalty of reclusion perpetua or 40 years imprisonment for serious illegal detention and up to 6 months jailtime for grave coercion.