CEBU CITY -- Police destroyed an estimated P3 million worth of pyrotechnic devices Friday afternoon, rejecting the owner's suggestion to donate these for the Sinulog festivities.
The destruction was illegal, said lawyer Noel Archival, representing Brian Lim. For one, it did not have the permission of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), he said.
Archival tried to convince Senior Superintendent Ramon Melvin Buenafe, director of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), to let Lim donate the pyrotechnics to City Hall for the Sinulog.
But Buenafe followed Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama's order.
Before the CCPO's last flag retreat for 2010 Friday, the police soaked Lim's seized products and other confiscated firecrackers.
The City Treasurer's Office and the City Intelligence Branch confiscated the pyrotechnics from the outlets of Lim's Pyroworks Pyrotechnic Perfection stalls in a mall last December 7.
Their basis was a Cebu City resolution that bans the display and sale of firecrackers and pyrotechnics outside a designated area at the South Road Properties.
Buenafe said the destruction of the pyrotechnics and firecrackers was for the public's health and safety.
"We are just doing our duty," he said.
Archival wrote Mayor Rama on Friday, asking him to reconsider his order.
When Rama earlier learned that CCPO officials were just waiting for City Hall's order, he immediately told the police to destroy the pyrotechnic devices.
Archival, however, said there should have been a court order to support the decision.
"Their basis is an ordinance or a resolution, so they should file a case against my client, and it should be decided by the court. Dili man pwede nga ang mayor maoy fiscal, mao sab ang huwes (The mayor cannot be both prosecutor and judge)," Archival said.
He said his client already paid the penalties imposed by the City Government and they have a clearance to that effect from the Treasurer's Office.
Also, if the City Government indeed complied with all the requirements for the destruction, there should have been a representative from his client's camp.
"Kinahanglan pud nga duna tay witness kay aron ang tanan mahurot gyud ug guba kay tingali ug panagoan ang uban unya ibaligya ug balik (We should have a witness to make sure that none of the items are pilfered and sold)," Archival said.
Despite the lawyer's arguments and Lim's offer to donate the seized items for the Sinulog, the mayor stood pat on his decision.
"Lisod na kaayo na nga sitwasyon. I have an order and it's up to the Philippine National Police how they will execute it. The police know I have an order, and it has to stay," Rama said.
Archival said he will consult his client on their next move.
"Basta gi-warningan na nato ang mayor, nakahibawo na siya kay duna na man ta'y constructive notice nga duna nay violation sa DENR law, unya dili pud siya makaguba ana without a court order (We just wanted to give notice that the destruction violated a DENR law, and the authorities should not have destroyed the items without a court order)," Archival said. (Elly T. Bolonos/Kevin A. Lagunda
