IF THEY can’t produce a single land title for the P1-per-lot program beneficiary within 15 days, then Cagayan de Oro Mayor Constantino Jaraula and Vice Mayor Vicente Emano should also pledge to resign from their posts.

The condition is contained in a draft “memorandum of undertaking” that minority councilors vowed to sign, under which they laid the provisions governing their promise to resign once City Hall fails to distribute the much-debated land titles.

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Councilors Roger Abaday, Vicente Lao and Zaldy Ocon “shall resign from their respective positions as city councilors if the second party (Jaraula and Emano) can execute one valid deed of absolute sale involving on residential lot” under the “piso’piso” program,” says the three-page draft, a copy of which was obtained by this paper Sunday.

“In the case the second party cannot execute one valid deed of sale within 15-day period from the execution of this Memorandum of Agreement, or the deed of absolute sale they have executed would be declared disapproved, illegal or void by the Commission on Audit, they too have agreed to resign from their respective positions as city mayor and vice mayor,” the draft reads.

Along with the three-member minority group, the draft also names Emano and Jaraula as signatories.

No date has been fixed for the signing of the draft “memorandum of undertaking,” and the 15-day deadline could pose a potential roadblock for both parties to formally execute the agreement.

The 15-day deadline and the condition for Emano and Jaraula’s resignations are new impositions that the minority councilors have issued since they issued the challenge last week.

Though Jaraula expressed City Hall was willing to take up on the challenge, he had earlier voiced reservations the on the time limit.

“After signing the notarized document containing their pledge to resign, then all they have to do is to inform us at City Hall,” Jaraula said, “including the sufficient time for us to meet the deadline on the distribution of the titles.”

He added: “Kay basin 24 oras lang pud ang ilang supisyenti nga panahon (they might take it that 24 hours is enough time).”
Lao, the minority leader, defended the 15-day deadline, saying City Hall can have the “piso-piso” titles ready for two weeks.

“Twelve years after the P1-per-lot program was established, I am pretty sure that have land titles distributed to beneficiaries within weeks,” he said.

“It is foolish for the opposition or for any beneficiary to wait for another year. Twelve years must be sufficiently fair, as land titling does not really take that long when the property involved is owned by the local government,” he added.

The “piso-piso” land resettlement program was started by the Emano administration in 1998.  Mayor Vicente Emano completed his nine-year stint as mayor in 2007 but the land titles his administration promised to the indigent-beneficiaries have not yet been distributed.

Families who benefitted from the resettlement program, instead, were given certificates of ownership.

Jaraula, a partymate of Emano’s who is now the vice mayor, assured City Hall has continued working on the titles for the “piso-piso program even before the opposition issued the challenge.(DVAIII)