Las Piñas judge in hot water

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fficers of the 12,000-strong United BF Homeowners’ Associations Inc. (Parañaque, Las Piñas, and Muntinlupa) yesterday filed an administrative complaint before the Supreme Court against Las Piñas Regional Trial Court Judge Raul Bautista Villanueva of Branch 274 for stopping the installation of water pipes by the Manila Waterworks and Sewerage System and Maynilad Water Services Corp. inside the BF Homes community in Parañaque, Las Piñas, and Muntinlupa.  In a 15-page letter-complaint to Chief Justice Reynato Puno, the UBFHAI stressed that Judge Villanueva should be sanctioned for gross ignorance of the law, grave abuse of discretion, and utterly oppressive conduct.

”The Honorable Supreme Court has time and again cautioned judges not to indiscriminately issue injunctions when the claimed irreparable injury of a party is compensable, or when its issuance will cause injury that will far outweigh the benefit it will serve to the party supposed to be protected,” the UBFHAI said.

The group was accompanied by Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez during the filing of the letter-complaint before the High Court.

According to the group, Villanueva issued a preliminary injunction against a government infrastructure project being undertaken by MWSS providing water service to the BF Homes community on the motion of developer BF Homes Inc. and its water service company Philippine Waterworks and Construction Corp (PWCC).

He also restrained and extended the effect of the injunction to the Maynilad Water Services Corp. and private contractors, stopping all these agencies from providing water to 12,000 households of BF Homes.

UBFHAI claimed that MWSS was ordered by President Arroyo thru Executive Order 688 issued on February 22, 2007, to provide water services to BF Homes. The EO was anchored on Presidential Decree No. 1345 empowering MWSS to take over the centralized water supply system within its jurisdiction.

“In issuing the preliminary injunction against MWSS, Maynilad Water Services, and all agents acting on their behalf, Villanueva effectively extended for an indefinite period of time the suffering of the thousand of residents of BF Homes who have been waterless for decades. He committed extreme injustice to the residents because he favored a non-existent private interest over public interest,” the group said.

For his part, Villanueva said to allow the MWSS to provide water services to the BF Homes community would be tantamount to taking of private property without just compensation.

He stressed that “taking without just compensation” should not only be construed in the physical sense but includes likewise the taking of the business from BF Homes Inc.(BFHI) and PWCC to provide water service to BF Homes community.

However, the UBFHAI disclosed that BFHI and PWCC no longer have any water service business since 2003. Because of this inability and failure of PWCC to provide water to BF Homes owners, the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) did not renew PWCC’s Certificate of Public Convenience to provide water.

Also, UBFHAI bared that the NWRB denied the PWCC’s motion for reconsideration, prompting the BFHI and PWCC to elevate the matter to the regional trial court.

UBFHAI stressed that the rationale of the prohibition against the whimsical issuances of TROs and injunctions by judges is to avoid disruption of essential government projects in areas of activity critical to the country’s economic development efforts, which, under the Constitution, must be implemented expeditiously and efficiently.

Also the prohibition was bolstered by the issuance of an Administrative Circular No. 11-200 banning the issuance of temporary restraining orders or writs of preliminary prohibitory or mandatory injunctions in cases involving government infrastructure projects.