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Saturday, April 23, 2005
DOJ gets Tomas’ say on SRP title
JUSTICE Secretary Raul Gonzalez received Thursday night the memorandum from the Cebu City Government that Mayor Tomas Osmeña promised, in answer to the one Rep. Eduardo Gullas submitted.
“It was a justification on why the South Reclamation Project (SRP) titles should go to Cebu City, but I can’t go further into the details,” he told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.
Gonzalez said he still has to write his opinion and dismissed reports that the rift between the two cities has worsened.
“Wala na akong pakialam kung maingay na kayo dyan sa Cebu. I’ll just do my work but not under pressure,” Gonzalez added.
Malacañang is waiting for the legal opinion from the Department of Justice to guide President Arroyo on whether special patents for the entire 295-hectare SRP should be issued to Cebu City.
At City Hall, Mayor Osmeña scoffed at a resolution Gullas filed. Gullas has asked Congress to direct the committee on natural resources to conduct an inquiry on the methods Namria used in delineating the municipal waters of the cities of Talisay and Cebu.
Congressmen
“Why should I give him the benefit of the doubt? He’s already had his chance so I’m not going to play into it anymore. He can inquire with himself,” the mayor told reporters yesterday.
In a separate interview, Gullas said he filed Resolution 683 in relation to the opposition filed by the Talisay City Government to the survey results of the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (Namria).
The Namria survey shows that the SRP is encroaching on only 2.087 hectares of Talisay’s territory. Talisay wants to claim over 53 hectares.
While he does not “begrudge” Gullas for defending the interests of Talisay, Deputy House Speaker Raul del Mar also vowed to protect the interests of Cebu City in the congressional inquiry.
Del Mar (Cebu City, north) said that while Cebuano lawmakers normally “help” each other in Congress, this is one issue they cannot “cooperate” on anymore.
“But in this case, Talisay will understand that to help them is adverse to the interest of Cebu City. I have to uphold that,” he pointed out.
New shores
“We (Rep. Antonio Cuenco and I) are being pitted against him (Gullas). I don’t want to begrudge him. He lost a big area and he’s just trying to protect Talisay,” del Mar said.
Like Gullas, he is interested to see if the Namria erred in its computation of the land area in the SRP that belongs to Talisay City.
Del Mar said he will not seek out Gullas to discuss the matter or question his move, but he will monitor when the inquiry will be held and he will attend it to make sure Cebu City will “not lose also.”
“The lesser area of encroachment by Talisay, the better for us.”
Gullas said that when Namria conducted its survey last year, “it used the new shoreline after the reclamation to determine whether the SRP has encroached on Talisay.”
The outcome of the House inquiry, Gullas said, could be used as basis for a bill on how Namria should delineate territorial waters.
Gullas’ resolution was referred to the committee on rules for review. (GAC/CYR)
(April 23, 2005 issue)
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