Boundary feud threatens pre-school

A DAY care center operated by Barangay Apas, Cebu City was padlocked twice, just before the opening of classes yesterday.

This was the claim of Apas Barangay Captain Ramil Ayuman, who later secured a letter from the Cebu Provincial Government for the use of one room of the property for their day care center.

The Capitol-owned property, formerly occupied by the non-government Cebu Hope Center, has become a flashpoint of sorts for a boundary dispute between Apas and Lahug.

The Cebu Hope Center was the first to vacate a province-owned lot immediately after
Capitol started issuing notices to recover its properties.

Ayuman reported that last June 8, Lahug Barangay Captain Jovito Taborada padlocked the classroom where Apas has operated a day care center since last school year.

Ayuman and a barangay councilor removed the lock last June 11. However, later in the week, Lahug again allegedly locked the door of the classroom, using nails.

The Apas barangay officials had to remove the nails again, just in time for the opening of classes yesterday.

Last week, about 30 students and their parents had to wait for an hour before the classroom could be opened. They were supposed to have an orientation and arrived at 8 a.m. only to find the classroom door shut.

“I was dismayed that the children were made to wait,” Ayuman told Sun.Star Cebu. This paper tried to get the side of the officials from Barangay Lahug but failed to get in touch with any of them because it was already after office hours.

After the incident, Ayuman then wrote a letter to Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia about the use of a part of the property as a day care center last June 8.

Barangay Apas received a favorable reply from the governor last Friday.

“We hope there will be no more problem,” said Ayuman.

The two barangays also had a conflict last year over the same property.

Back then, Taborada had asked a day care center to stop its operations. He explained that as a matter of courtesy, Apas should have sought Lahug’s permission for the use of the property.

Lahug also operates a day care center in the same area.

Apas’ justification then was that the part used by the barangay is under its jurisdiction and if they had to ask permission it would have to be from the Capitol, which owns the property.