The Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) has upheld the appeal filed by an association against the decision of the Santa Cruz City Council not to answer its request to review ex officio the file with which, 13 years ago, the honors were withdrawn of favorite son and gold medal awarded to the dictator Francisco Franco. As stated in the aforementioned sentence, which is dated December 27, the City Council should have answered the request legitimately made by the association, and not consider it rejected, taking advantage of the concept of administrative silence, for which it condemns the City Council ” to proceed to process the ex officio review request submitted by the appellant.”
The TSJC does not go into the substance of the matter, that is, whether the file is well or poorly carried out, but rather considers that the Association for the Investigation and Protection of the San Miguel Arcángel Historical Heritage, the appellant, was entitled to request a ex officio review of that withdrawal of honors, and was entitled to receive a response.
What the Canarian high court argues is that, even if it is a decision voted in the municipal plenary session, it is not only an acknowledgment, but rather an administrative act, and as such it must be processed, including, therefore, the response to the allegations made.
The court thus revokes the ruling of the court that saw the complaint of that group in the first instance, that of Contentious number 3 of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, which did not admit the appeal for processing.
On July 17, 2009, the plenary session of the Santa Cruz City Council approved by 16 votes in favor, seven against, one blank and one abstention “withdraw the distinctions of favorite son and gold medal of this city to the dictator Francisco Franco” , some honors that the corporation had granted him in March 1939.
The Court number 3 of Santa Cruz de Tenerife understood at the time (April 2021) that there was no point in processing the appeal of the San Miguel Arcángel association, arguing that Franco had already lost those titles when he died, since they were “ for life”.
The TSJC completely disagrees with this reasoning, because it believes that a decision such as the one to withdraw a title can affect the “honorability” of the person who received it at the time and “honorability”, it adds, does not die with the person. The chamber maintains, in support of its decision, that “the cultural heritage defendable by an association is not based exclusively on material issues”, but that “honorability and intangible properties are also defensible”.
“If Franco was the favorite son of Santa Cruz de Tenerife for 70 years, and half in democracy, and an association considers this within its cultural cast, it is perfectly right to argue that if such titles are revoked, as a agreement, this is done within the legal framework of the town hall operation”, defends the TSJC.
