By J. Irving

When campaign ends and power are finally in the hands of these politicians, change in attitudes emerges. This is true even in the Barangay level. The very people whom we trust to implement the Katarungan Pambarangay are the ones breaking the law. They begin to see their office NOT as a responsibility but as a source of entitlement and privilege. 

Take the case of my family, my maternal grandmother, Matilde Suzara vda. de Villarin, donated a 1,242 sqm-lot to the Town Mayor Santiago Carranceja of Daet in 08 February 1939, for the sole purpose of utilizing it as slaughterhouse. Everyone in the neighborhood knows that it should be returned to the owner, once the lot ceases to be such. 

On 01 April 2002, the slaughterhouse was transferred to another place. My former battalion (31st IB) in Jolo was relocated at that time in Labo, the adjacent town of Daet. The battalion commander was a mistah (better not to mention his name) and he was willing to give me a team to secure the place. However, my mother scolded me. She did not want to see any guns and Army troopers in her street. She made me promise that I will not meddle with the case. Ask anybody who knows her, she was a kindhearted woman, who does not have any enemies. She wanted things to be settled properly and peacefully in court, not with extrajudicial solution.

Nevertheless, Barangay Captain Moya brazenly moved in our property that year. He started, at first, to build temporary shelters. The Barangay and municipal government changed hands. When my mother, Lina Lomeda, filed the cancellation of the Deed of Donation at the RTC, the mayor was Tito Sarion and the Barangay Captain was Edwin Sayson; the two became the accused. The case took 17 years to have the deed of donation be revoked but the structures inside the lot grew vastly, with a hall. When settled on 23 October 2019, the barangay captain was already William Villrarin, one of the heirs of Matilde. 

Sad to say, my mother died on 27 December 2018, never learning what happened to her efforts. 

My mother passed away with broken dreams. She advocated fair play. If only, she was respected and given what is due to her, she could have lived happier and longer. They killed her. She left her dying wish with me that her children and all future descendants maintain a strong bond with her hometown, the land where she was born and finally buried. It was her desire that an ancestral home be established in Daet, to serve as a permanent symbol of our family’s roots.

Likewise, it was her earnest desire that portions of her inheritance be shared with all the dependents of her two siblings, to recognize the bond and continue to maintain the connection that has always existed among the family – being Daeteños. 

My cousin, William Villarin, the Barangay Captain, informed Mayor Benito Ochoa that the Barangay is vacating the place in compliance to the court order. However, in a Sangguniang Bayan deliberation presided by Vice Mayor Rosa Mia King, the group strongly opposed the decision of Mr Villarin to vacate. Edwin Sayson took over all matters of the case.

Furthermore, Edwin Sayson let Mr Villarin inhibit from the case, for the reason of vested interest. Mr. Sayson, together with four other kagawads: Luis Baldorado, Danilo DeQuiros Jr., Arnel Luna, and Simeon Naing continued to scorn the lawful orders. The three women of the Barangay council: Rosanna Salogoste, Lily Ann De Asis and Rommela Velacruz did not agree with the male counterparts and never signed any petitions.

I thought the case is over but the five kagawads filed an “Imminent Domain” case at the RTC and had the Clerk of Court issue a “Writ of Possession” in their favor. The case of imminent Domain at the RTC was outright dismissed and an appeal was lodge at the Court of Appeals. The lot is still under the possession of Barangay-8.

I went to Sec Ed Año of DILG, the Ombudsman Samuel Martires, called PBGen Mario Reyes, the PNP Regional Director of Bicol and even wrote to the Kapuso Action Man, Emil Sumangil, to complain; but all their staffs are unanimous. They cannot act or comment on this matter as it is currently sub judice, under trial. The case generally cannot be publicly discussed — especially by media or public officials — to avoid influencing the outcome or prejudicing the court.

I cannot remain silent. I want this over and make things right for my mother before she celebrates her 100th birthday on 21 January 2026. 

So, I decided to write to the lawyer of the opposition (who is being paid by the government to pursue the imminent domain case, not by the kagawads), a woman, she might not become impervious to my mother’s plight and feelings … when she learns about our travails.

Office of the Provincial Prosecutor

Hall of Justice Bldg., Baldovino St., Brgy. Camambugan, Daet, Camarines Norte 4600

Dear Atty Ludivina Francisco,

I am Rey Lomeda, the 4th child of Lina and the newly designated legal representative or Attorney-in-Fact for the heirs of Matilde Villarin.

I am writing you in the hope that I may still be able to appeal to your good person to desist from pursuing the Eminent Domain Case at the Court of Appeals and instead, to solve the matter through amicable settlement in accordance to Barangay Justice.

In 1972, my mother became a widow at the age of 46 without a home and with seven children to care for. I was in the seminary but decided to enter PMA to lessen the financial burden of my mother. I was in the academy when the whole family decided to migrate to Canada to seek a better life. I decided to stay behind.

In 2002, the lot, where the slaughterhouse used to be, was vacated. My mother went home to Daet, with the intention to build her home. But the barangay officials arbitrarily stopped her. Foiled in her desire to build a house, so instead, she built a tomb for herself on top of my father’s at the old cemetery that year. 

My mother went to court to cancel the deed of donation. She travelled to Daet during hearings, full of hope that her petition would be granted. 

In 2014, at the age of 88, while in Vancouver in a cold winter morning, she was mugged and sexually molested while walking to church, her daily devotion, in a dark alley. The suspect, a deranged man was sought by the police but was never caught. From then on, my mother’s health deteriorated. Nevertheless, she was happy to be in the hospital because her children took turns in visiting and watching over her. It was there that she confessed her regrets and revealed her last will. She wanted her body not to be cremated, but instead to be buried in Daet. 

After her discharge from the hospital, she went to Daet hoping to build her dream house, where she wished to remain until her last breath. She wanted that house for us her children, to visit her in the twilight of her life. 

My mother, with my sister as caregiver, lived in the house of Rita Yu, while she attended court hearings, awaiting the decision for her to be allowed to build her house. 

Due to depression, she went to Dumaguete and stay at the farm of my brother. It was in Dumaguete where she died on December 2019. I took the task to bring her corpse to Daet. I hope you can picture the ordeal of her dying outside Daet we went through, with my mother’s coffin and relatives in tow, filled with so many frustrations in my mind during the trip. It was then that I made a silent promise to my mother as she lay in repose that I will build that house in the lot that Lola bequeathed her.

In October 2019, my mother won the case but died before she could savor the favorable verdict for what she had fought for. The RTC ordered the Barangay to return the lot to us – the Lomeda, Villarin and Cootauco. But the Sheriff, who sided with the Barangay, performed his job half-heartedly without removing the structures inside the lot, as opposed to what is mandated in the Writ of Execution. 

I had hoped that having a cousin and co-heir as Barangay Chairman would hasten the resolution of our claim in our favor. But how gravely mistaken I was. He was sidetracked. 

Then all of a sudden, here came you waving a “Writ of Possession” with a belligerent sheriff and policemen in tow, who bodily removed my cousin Edwin Cootauco from our rightful property. All this I witnessed in utter disbelief in a video footage.

I truly wonder, if it was my mother who was there, would you have done the same? Instead of gratitude for her benevolence in allowing the government of Daet to use the said property for over eight decades free from rent, you dare harass us, further prolonging the injustice inflicted upon our families.

We ask, where is justice? All the effort, time and money spent by my mother had gone to waste. Did we do you wrong, Attorney, or any of the barangay officials to be in the receiving end of this persecution?

The generosity of my mother and my sacrifice for the country have no value to you. How would you feel if you, or anybody else for that matter, are in my shoes? I respect your position and you as a person. I heard you are fearless, but I am appealing to you as an offspring who loves his mother dearly to no end, to listen to your heart and do what is right. Take heed of the Lord’s eighth commandment that directly addresses not taking what’s not yours: “You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15). 

We hope and pray that this will resolve the lingering dispute among us, that the rancor that festered between us finally be laid to rest, and we can go on with our lives in peace, happy with the belief that we will spend the remainder of our days among friends. . .

Respectfully yours and in all humility, 

BGEN JESS “REY” LOMEDA AFP (Ret)

 

A RAY OF HOPE.

There is a new elected Mayor in Daet – Hon. Rossano “Ronie” Valencia (where one of his councillors is a Carranceja. Their parents know my mother). I am praying Mayor Valencia reconsiders my plea and decides to make things right! 

I hope he has a listening ear. The heirs of Matilde came into a consensus that the Barangay can stay and keep their hall. The Imminent Domain must only cover the share of the Villarins and the Cootaucos, who had houses along Basit Street. The two families must be compensated. However, the Lomedas will get one-third of the property space, in kind, where they can build their ancestral home.

The money given to the heirs can pay for the renovation of a columbarium at the cemetery, which can remove the tombs hampering the road-widening. With this, Mayor Valencia can realize and have during his term the desired highway, entering Daet.

The lawyer, Atty Miriam Dipasupil-Gestiada, who won the case for us, is now working there, at Daet Government; and she can be consulted. She can uncover the oversight through old journal entries in city archives, Mayor Valencia can immediately initiate an investigation and confirm my claim. Despite pressure from the five barangay officials and provincial prosecutor to keep all the lot, he would choose to honor the original promise. After consulting with legal advisors and the town council, he would return the land to us, the rightful owners.

His act of integrity can be emulated and ultimately earned respect for setting a precedent of ethical leadership and restorative justice.

Because until now, I am puzzled what kind of government official strikes down an old lady? Then, take away her property that she keeps dearly. I hope Mayor Valencia is not this kind of leader — callous. He practices his power as it was given to protect, not to harm. Authority was entrusted to serve, not to oppress.

My mother is not an enemy. She is a mother, a grandmother, a life that has endured much – she had lost a son and a husband; and constantly in fear I might die in battle. To mistreat her is to disgrace on the very values of respect and compassion that hold our society together.