Far from having put an end to the conflict with the Haría City Council, the Island Corporation presided over by Pedro San Ginés has reopened the lawsuit with a new appeal, in which it maintains that the Cueva de Los Verdes and the Jameos del Agua "are the property of the Cabildo, as they are island general systems obtained by occupation." The appeal, which is dated June 5 but had not been revealed until now, is the response to the latest judicial setback suffered by the Cabildo against the northern Consistory, when the Contentious-Administrative Court Number 4 of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria annulled two plenary agreements of 2011 and 2013, by which these two tourist centers were included in the inventory of assets of the Cabildo.
After learning of that ruling, San Ginés stated that the sentence "would not have any added consequence", referring to the extrajudicial agreement signed by both institutions to try to put an end to the other lawsuit, in which the Cabildo was sentenced to abandon the Cave and pay a millionaire compensation to the Consistory. The president himself pointed out then that there was no longer "conflict" and that this agreement came "to recognize the right over the land of the Haría City Council." However, the appeal that has been presented in the courts maintains the opposite.
"It is not that there are indications that the Cave and the Jameos are the property of the Cabildo, because they are general systems occupied by the Cabildo, but that there is substantial evidence that this is the case," defends that appeal, which has not been signed by the lawyer who led this lawsuit from its beginning, Ignacio Calatayud, but by the jurist of the Corporation Eugenia Torres. Thus, contrary to what was publicly stated by San Ginés, the Cabildo not only claims ownership of the works carried out in those centers, but also of the land.
Reiterates an argument that according to the first ruling "is not admissible"
The arguments on which the appeal is based are the same that were raised in the first instance and that were already rejected last May by the Court, which went so far as to point out that the Cabildo's thesis "is not admissible." And it is that according to the Corporation, it has the right of ownership over that land because it is cataloged as a general system in the Island Plan, and because the territorial law of the Canary Islands maintains that "general systems are acquired by occupation."
In this regard, the first instance ruling already warned that "the mere qualification of a property as a general system does not automatically transfer its ownership to the Administration," concluding that therefore there was no "title of acquisition of the asset" to be able to include it in its inventory.
"We cannot understand how the challenged sentence affirms that the qualification of the assets as island general systems and their occupation are not an indication of ownership," says the Cabildo's appeal, which adds that it is "a notorious fact that the Cave and the Jameos are Tourist Centers of the island Cabildo of Lanzarote exploited by the Cabildo" and that there "an important, if not the most important, activity of public interest for the island is developed."
"From the above it is clear that the challenged sentence is erroneous and, therefore, must be revoked," insists this appeal, in which the Cabildo alleges that having occupied those centers makes it the owner.
"Nobody disputes that the works carried out must be included in the inventory"
In addition to claiming ownership of the land, the Cabildo points out that the first instance ruling "is also erroneous in considering that the works carried out on said properties cannot be included in the inventory either." Thus, it points out that "in the hypothetical case that it is considered that there are no indications that the Cueva de los Verdes and Los Jameos are the property of the Cabildo, what is clear and evident, because nobody disputes it, is that the works carried out on them by the Cabildo must be included in the inventory."
However, despite that statement, the truth is that this fact has not only been "disputed" by the Haría City Council, which went to the courts, but also by the Court of first instance that ruled in favor of the Consistory. Even, that sentence underlined that it is "a basic principle of civil law" that "what is built on someone else's land belongs to the owner of the same", and that "one cannot speak of a right of ownership over constructions independently of the right of ownership of the land on which they are based."
However, the Cabildo insists in its appeal with this argument, pointing out that the ruling cites an article of the Civil Code "but forgets another." In that second article to which the appeal refers, it is also pointed out that "the owner of a land on which is built, sown or planted in good faith will have the right to make his own the work, sowing or planting", although it adds that this will be "after compensation." And based on that reference to a "compensation", the institution presided over by San Ginés also considers that it has the right to put those assets in its name.
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