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Wednesday, September 28, 2005
SRP patent out for 7 lots
By Liberty A. Pinili & Gingging A. Campaña
Sun.Star Staff Reporters
The Cebu City Government finally got the special patent for the South Reclamation Project (SRP), which Environment Secretary Michael Defensor signed last week.
This was revealed yesterday by Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 7 technical director for land management Diana Apistar, who said the special patent covers only seven lots.
Cebu City applied for special patent covering 15 parcels of land at the 295-hectare SRP, but the DENR did not allow the inclusion of those occupied by the South Coastal Road, those with approved land surveys and the unfilled Pond A.
Apistar said the Talisay City Government, which is staking a claim over 53.44 hectares of the SRP, can no longer interfere in the issuance of the titles.
If Talisay City has objections to the special patent, it will have to go to court, as the DENR no longer has jurisdiction on the issue, Apistar said.
“It’s no longer in our hands,” she said. “If Talisay will act on it, they have to go to court.”
Apistar said, though, that the three parcels of land within the SRP that are covered by approved land surveys are within the jurisdiction of the DENR.
She said Cebu City had sought for the cancellation of the three surveys but the DENR 7 advised against it, because it would have delayed further the issuance of a special patent.
Funds
Private individuals are claiming ownership of the three parcels of land.
The Cebu City Government needs the special patent to convince investors to put their money in the SRP, which cost P6.3 billion under current exchange rates. The funds were sourced from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).
Apistar said the special patent was transmitted by the office of Secretary Defensor to the DENR 7, which forwarded it and other related documents to the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office and then to the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (Penro).
Apistar said the Penro was tasked to forward it to the Registry of Deeds.
The special patent is a one-page resolution that will be translated later into an original certificate of title by the Registry of Deeds.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña had refused to announce in public the update of Cebu City’s application for the SRP titles, believing Talisay will block it.
He apologized again to the public yesterday for withholding information on the status of the SRP.
“We are deliberately withholding information because we don’t want to tell our enemies about the details. I apologize to the public because I’m not taking this in a transparent position. It’s a matter of security. You’ll have to trust me. We’re doing the best we can,” Osmeña said.
The mayor explained last week why Katahira Engineers and International, the consulting firm commissioned to prepare the documents for the City’s application for the titles, did not appear before the City Council’s executive sessions.
Blanks
“Don’t expect me to announce it. Why would I announce that, because you are a member of the council? Why is that so important to them, because there’s P3 million involved? It’s not their responsibility.
The consultant’s job is to fill in the blanks, not give a minute-by-minute account,” he said.
Katahira has been contracted by the City to work on the documents and other requirements for the titling of the SRP under a P3.4-million contract.
The three-year delay of the SRP titles has been “hurting the City Government badly.”
Without the titles, the City cannot sell the SRP to investors. It needs funds to pay for the 12.292-billion yen loan it got from the JBIC almost a decade ago.
(September 28, 2005 issue)
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