The Regional Trial Court Branch 47 recently issued a writ of preliminary prohibitory injunction directing and enjoining the Municipality of Tubigon and its municipal officials, collectors, and agents to immediately cease and desist in implementing and collecting the municipal service fees imposed under the municipality’s Revenue Code of 1996 as amended.
Presiding Judge Suceso Arcamo issued the two-page omnibus writ of preliminary prohibitory injunction last July 28, that temporarily stopped the collection of the fees upon entry and exit at the municipal wharf of Tubigon as a provisional remedy, pending court decision on the cases filed by Cebu Movers Systems, Incorporated and Big Boy Trucking Corporation against the municipal government of Tubigon.
In a check with Tubigon Mayor Luna Piezas, he said, the case was not decided on its merits but the municipality was only ordered to refrain from implementing and collecting municipal service fees on the two trucking companies.
The two companies, that operate several trucks regularly plying the area to transport goods from Cebu to Bohol, had been paying P100 to P350 per truck load.
They disputed the municipal ordinance, citing memorandum circular 2006-70 issued by the secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government on June 26, 2006 addressed to all provincial governors, mayors, and barangay captains on the suspension of the imposition of the fees.
The companies also asserted that they found it more appropriate for the Philippine Ports Authority to be the one to exercise authority to operate, regulate and maintain the said municipal wharf of Tubigon, as it was the one that constructed and maintained it.
The court directed the sheriff to personally serve the injunctive writs to the mayor of Tubigon for guidance and compliance after considering all the essential requirements, merit and necessity for its issuance, while the principal action for the declaration of the nullity of section 5 paragraph 1 of the Revenue Code of 1996 of the Municipality of Tubigon and after the plaintiff companies submitted a surety bond.
Truckers and rolling cargoes/vehicles plying the Cebu-Tubigon-Cebu route embraced it as positive development on their part, saying the subject fees were just additional burden on their operations. - Sunday Post
Linkback:
https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=21550.0