|
Saturday, August 19, 2006
City still hoping to work out lot swap deal with Capitol
The Cebu City Government will not pursue yet negotiations for the relocation of Barangay Luz residents who face an eviction case Cebu Province is set to file.
City Administrator Francisco Fernandez said yesterday that the City is still working on having the residents keep their homes.
“We have not thought about a relocation site because we’re still pursuing that the occupants will get the lots. When it gets to court and we see there’s no chance, then we’ll work out a relocation,” he said in a phone interview.
Right now, Fernandez said, they are still confident that Mayor Tomas Osmeña will be able to work out an agreement with Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia so the occupants will not have to be evicted.
Council stand
At the Capitol, the governor said she will only entertain negotiations in relation to the lots covered by the Provincial Ordinance 93-1 if the Cebu City Council will come up with a collective stand on the matter.
She explained that the Provincial Government had been put in bad light and insulted by the comments of the Cebu City Council so she cancelled the deal.
Mayor Osmeña had broached to Garcia the deal to swap lots and the Provincial Board agreed to it.
However, the Cebu City Council raised questions and even commented that Capitol is including in the deal lots that have been fully paid by the beneficiaries.
Osmeña has tried to resume negotiations by making the deal more attractive such as offering to the Provincial Government the management of the Cebu City Medical Center but Garcia is lukewarm on the offer.
Now, the Province has issued notices to vacate to the residents of Barangay Luz. The residents are appealing to the Provincial Government to reconsider.
Not easy
“The last I heard from the city council, ‘dawat rag limpyo ang probinsya ani’. Has that changed? I will not continue with any further talk unless the City Council comes up with a collective stand as regards negotiations in whatever forum that affects the lots covered by Ordinance 93-1 and the CCMC. What is their stand? They better get their acts together,” Garcia said.
But as of now, Garcia said she’ll “continue with what we need to do to protect the interest of the constituents of the Province of Cebu.”
Although the Urban Development Housing Act (Udha) puts on the local government unit concerned the responsibility to relocate its constituents, Fernandez said they will ask Capitol to help the City with the relocation in the event the court orders an eviction.
Osmeña had said that it is not wise to negotiate on the relocation site at this time since they are still negotiating with the Province and finding ways to avoid an eviction.
He admitted, though, that it will not be easy, since Garcia is also determined on recovering valuable Capitol-owned lots in Barangay Luz, particularly the area along Archbishop Reyes Ave.
The mayor had said the the land swap proposal is getting to be a complicated problem for him.
“This is a very complicated problem, even more complicated than the war in Lebanon, only there is no artillery involved,” he said in a news conference early this week. (LCR/MBG)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (August 19, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
