By Modesto P. Sa-onoy
Yesterday I cited the determination of the Causings to stand by their rights and fight back by filing a criminal case against persons directly involved in their harrowing experience. They suffered due to a conflict they had nothing to do with, innocent victims that the accused in this case did not consider.
Their lawyer had also advised Nico “not to give up possession of the unit without the proper court order.” That was, the lawyer said in the complaint a “fair warning to the young couple considering what OVY and people acting on her behest were doing to scare away EVY’s legitimate tenants or to forcibly take over the units if their scare tactics will not work.”
I can understand the Yanson family squabbled over their earthly possessions, among them these apartment units, but there are third parties here like the Causings. Don’t they have rights? They entered into a lease contract with Emily in good faith before the Yanson family feud, and so did Emily. The Causings are not partisans and do not deserve this treatment. Indeed there is truth in the ancient maxim: hate and fear cloud the mind.
Thus we wondered: Was it difficult for Olivia to honor the commitment of a family member? Or at least to wait and respect the contract until the ownership issue is resolved?
It is a consolation for the Causings that Emily stood by her word but she is helpless against Olivia who has the means to enforce her will. Rightly did the Causings bring the matter to the court!
What forced the Causings to seek justice in court? Would it have been easy or convenient for them to just leave the apartment and charge their lost occupancy time to life’s sad experiences?
But Olivia could not wait. When she filed a complaint with the barangay, it was presumed that she would go through the proper legal channel, as she later did. Thus the Causing lawyer advised Nico to just wait for the case to be filed in court and then respond accordingly. After all, it was just a matter of a few months and the Causings would have left without rancor. Then the matter would have become, as lawyers loved to say, moot and academic.
But who could have fathomed Olivia’s mind that she went directly for the jugular to get the Causings out? Did she want to show her children, and maybe the world, what she can do if anyone crossed her path?
And so the unexpected and an unnecessary incident happened.
According to the facts of the case filed, at about half-past two in the afternoon of July 2, 2020, “several personnel from BACIWA (Bacolod City’s water utility company) on board at least THREE (3) vehicles/van, in clear and disproportionately overwhelming and intimidating number, spearheaded by no less than their General Manager, Respondent Carbon (Carbon), together and in clear conspiracy with Respondent Roland Jun Pugoy (Pugoy) and Respondent Lopez (Lopez) and in apparent furtherance of their unlawfully, criminal and real intent, illegally cut off the water connection of the Unit being dwelled by Complainants.”
The charge named three persons, Carbon, Pugoy and Lopez but there are others included as “John Does” and “Jane Does” that I will mention later when we get their names. They are readily recognizable in the photographs of employees of BACIWA cutting off the water supply and employees of CENECO disconnecting the power supply to Nico’s apartment.
Pugoy is a lawyer of the Vallacar Transit Incorporated and Lopez was featured here before as the handmaid or enforcer of Olivia Yanson. They are therefore under the direct control of Olivia and as they are her employees, they executed whatever order was given to them. Or even advised Olivia to these tactics.
Of course, they can claim they were just following orders but the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal debunked that defense; legal and moral laws do not accept that excuse. We cannot be compelled to follow a clearly illegal order. Anyway, Pugoy is a lawyer and Lopez displays a Ph.D. after her name when she filed a complaint against Perseus and Nico. That means they know what they did and where their bread is buttered.
We continue on October 21.
