Wednesday, February 28, 2007 Check my record, Tomas to Capitol on his motives
CEBU Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez suggested yesterday a “win-win solution” for the land swap conflict between the City and the Province of Cebu.
Sanchez said the problem in Barangay Luz can be addressed by erecting a building for those residents who have already paid for their lots and using the remaining land for commercial purposes.
Those who failed to pay may be relocated, but the Province can also provide them with housing projects they can acquire under a rent-to-own scheme, Sanchez said.
This way, the City will not have to worry about their constituents and Barangay Luz will no longer be an “eyesore” in the city. Also, both the Province and the City will earn from the development of the lot.
Sanchez, an engineer, admitted he still has to discuss his idea with Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia.
Meanwhile, Luz Barangay Councilor Nida Cabrera asked for help from the National Government for the beneficiaries of Ordinance 93-1.
That ordinance allowed the Capitol to dispose of its properties starting a decade ago, but many have yet to pay for their lots until now.
The National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) decided, in its quarterly meeting, to request the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor to conduct a survey on the beneficiaries and status of the lots covered, based on the ordinance.
While the survey is ongoing, the Capitol can continue to negotiate with the individual lot occupants or the associations, Cabrera explained. Cabrera sits in the NAPC as a sectoral representative for Region 7.
For his part, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said that some Capitol officials’ claim that he is pushing for the lot swap because of commercial interests does not make any sense.
“I don’t want to insult anybody’s intelligence so I’m just going to answer it as best as I can. I’m the longest serving mayor in Cebu City. Please look at my track record. All the properties of the City in Barrio Luz, I sold to the occupants; all the properties almost everywhere I sold, in Lorega San Miguel.
I have the South Road Properties. I have 300 hectares to sell without having to evict anyone,” he said.
He added: “I don’t even know how they came to that conclusion. Isn’t it the governor who wants to commercialize this area? Why am I being the one being accused? Nabali,” Osmeña said.
Osmeña gave President Arroyo a letter informing her that the Banilad friar lands bill approved last week by the Senate includes lots claimed by the Province. (See related story)
However, he said he was not able to take it up with President Arroyo during her visit last Monday.
“I just submitted it. She can have somebody study it because I did not discuss it with her... But you see, it’s my job to inform the President because beyond this 93-1, there are other national line agencies that are being kicked out. A new city jail in Kalunasan, Tesda, the National Food Authority, the drug rehab center, the police and the puericulture center,” the mayor explained.
Under the original proposal, Cebu City offered a four-hectare property in the North Reclamation Area in exchange for some 53 hectares owned by the Province, but occupied by the city’s constituents in 11 barangays.
Sanchez admitted that when Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama commented that swapping the lots with the Province could be disadvantageous to the city, it was an eye-opener.
It made the Capitol officials tap an appraiser so they will know the value of the provincial lots that will be swapped, he explained.
After the appraisal showed that the Capitol’s lots are worth up to P3 billion, compared to some P415 million for Cebu City’s offered property, they decided the properties to be exchanged must be worth the same. (GRA/MBG/With CYR)
