For stopping the supposed completion of the unfinished Agora, District Engineer Celestino Adlaon angered City Mayor Dan Neri Lim that a Lim-Adlaon open warfare may not be far behind. The possibility of a Lim-Adlaon clash was evident after the city mayor started lambasting the district engineer during his Mayor's Report yesterday morning. The mayor who just arrived from the United States made no bones of his displeasure over the stop order issued by Engr. Adalaon. The district engineer ordered the stoppage of the Agora rehab after he personally saw workers using vibrators and jack jammers demolishing the concrete beams of the building fronting CPG Avenue. Engr. Adlaon said he sent a legal query to the regional office thru lawyer Ayaon Manggis asking if it was proper for the city government to demolish the concrete beams.

The building's frontage was demolished to conform to the setback requirements of the National Building Code. The city government entered into a Build-Operate-Transfer scheme with a Zamboanga City-based contractor in order to finish the Agora which had since became an urban eyesore after it was laying idle for more than 15 years already. But despite the stoppage order from the Department of Public Works and Highways, Mayor Lim directed the contractor, J.L. Apostol Enterprises, to go on with the rehab works. The basis of Adlaon's order was that the building is yet to be turned over to the city. This means that per Adlaon's reckoning, the building is still under the control and supervision of the DPWH. He said not until he will be able to get hold of the legal advice from the regional office, any improvement job in the Agora should be stopped. Under the setback rule, buildings are required 10 meters from the center of the road. The city government requires five meters for parking space and another 2.5 meters for sidewalks.