Sunday, February 18, 2007
Lot swap beneficiaries get no chance to appeal to Arroyo
ALTHOUGH they failed to meet with and ask President Arroyo to intervene for them, residents affected by the Cebu City and Cebu Province’s land swap deal got the ear of administration senatorial candidate Mike Defensor.
Barangay Luz Councilor Nida Cabrera said the former presidential chief of staff agreed to discuss the matter with her in Manila on Feb. 26. Defensor is also a former chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council.
Cabrera is among more than 5,000 residents who stand to lose their homes if negotiations on the lot swap fall apart, especially after the City Council declared a moratorium on developments in the Banilad-Talamban area because of a growing traffic problem.
The suspicion is that the declaration was meant to hold hostage the Provincial Government’s P2-billion Ciudad project, a joint venture with a private firm.
That, after the Capitol said it will agree to swap lands with the City “value for value”, instead of under the original terms.
Barangay Captain Nemesio Pagador vowed that they will not vacate Luz, and will fight once the Capitol attempts to demolish their homes.
The Province already sent notices of eviction to Barangay Luz and Lahug residents late last year.
“Daghan kaayo ming tawo diri. Magkagubot gyud ni (So many people will be displaced. They will certainly resist),” he said, adding that he trusts Mayor Tomas Osmeña to straighten the matter out.
Cabrera and several Luz residents joined Arroyo’s Team Unity proclamation rally at the New Cebu Coliseum yesterday.
Seeing that it was difficult to approach the President, they sought Defensor’s help instead.
But for Provincial Board (PB) Member Victor Maambong, the meeting is a “futile exercise” because the problem is just between Osmeña and Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, who need to “sit down, be reasonable and diplomatic.”
He said Cebu City has “very respected and good leaders” who “will always have an approach where they can attack the value-for-value concept.”
He was referring to the PB’s demand that instead of swapping the occupied lots with the City Government’s 3.6-hectare property worth P400 million, as stated in the original agreement, a “value for value” exchange deal would be adopted.
The Capitol claims that the current market value of the lots the City residents are using is at least P3 billion.
The moratorium, criticized as a form of blackmail, may halt or at least delay Capitol’s development projects in Banilad.
Maambong has drafted a resolution asking the City Government to reconsider the move. (MBG)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (February 18, 2007 issue)
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