Monday, November 06, 2006 Rañolas wait to get lot back By Garry Cabotaje Sun.Star Staff Reporter
THE order of the Department of Environment and Natural Resource (DENR) to demolish the public structures on a controversial private lot in Barangay Poblacion, Talisay City has been considered final and executory.
But the Rañola family, who claimed as the rightful owner of the 322-square-meter beachfront property, may not be able to fully acquire the contested lot yet.
For ten years, the Rañolas have been pleading with the Talisay Government to return the property which is being used now as the site of the City’s satellite market.
The property has been considered a prime lot, as it faces the Poblacion’s shoreline, the site of the historic American landing in World War II in Talisay.
City Legal Officer Aurora Econg confirmed to Sun.Star Cebu over the weekend that the DENR 7 has denied the City Government’s motion to hold in abeyance the DENR’s order awarding the lot to Romeo Rañola, proprietor of Rañola Motor Center in Cebu City.
Demolish
The denial made the earlier order issued by DENR Acting Executive Director Clarence Baguilat to demolish the public structures final and executory.
But Econg said the City Government will exert its legal rights and contest the matter in court if ever Rañola gets a legal order demolishing the public structures in the area.
These public structures include the skills training center and the satellite public market, which have been rented out to seafood vendors near the plaza of the then Talisay municipal hall.
Econg said the City still considers Rañola as an applicant to the beachfront lot for allegedly failing to comply with the requirements as provided in the Commonwealth Act (CA) 141, which states the procedures for the Sale of Public Agriculture Land.
The Talisay Government reportedly occupies some 243-square meters of the 322-square-meter property applied for by Rañola, while the heirs of Cesar Fernandez have reportedly encroached into the remaining 79-square-meter portion.
Litigation
Like Talisay City, Fernandez questioned the ownership of the entire lot before the DENR 7. But in June 2000, DENR 7 Executive Director Augustus Momongan ruled in favor of Rañola after eight years of litigation.
Rañola reportedly acquired the lot through a miscellaneous sales application.
But Econg reiterated the provisions in the Public Land Act, which states that the approval of sales application merely authorizes the applicant to take possession of the land and to comply with the requirements before he can obtain a patent in his favor.
Econg said the land dispute also reached the attention of Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Virginia Palanca-Santiago months after Mayor Socrates “Soc” Fernandez assumed his post in Talisay City.
“But he (Rañola) was advised to perfect the ownership of the property first with the patent. The mayor was there in our meeting with Santiago,” she said.
Also, the City Government claimed that Rañola has allegedly violated Section 27 of CA 141, as amended, for allegedly failing to fully pay for the property since the award was made in April 1980.
Improvements
The applicant, it added, has allegedly committed other violations for the lack of actual occupancy, cultivation and improvement of the applied lot.
Econg said the then Talisay municipal government came in by constructing the public structures on the idle lot as part of its livelihood programs for the urban poor.
She said the City has been an actual occupant of the property for 20 years as tangible improvements in the area were introduced in 1986 yet.
Still, Econg said the City Government is willing to buy the property once Rañola complies with all the ownership requirements on the contested property.
Econg said the City Government is eyeing another option of filing an expropriation case in court if the offer to buy the property fails.
“But at present, we cannot file an expropriation case because the applicant has not perfected yet the ownership of the property,” she added.
Last Saturday, Sun.Star Cebu tried to reach Rañola for comment but to no avail. A female employee said the businessman was out of town.
