Tuesday, August 07, 2007 Gwen to meet Bry. Apas council
CEBU Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia will call for a meeting with the barangay council of Apas, Cebu City to “clarify, dispel speculations and avoid unwarranted fears” about the return to the Capitol of the 81-hectare property occupied by the Central Command (Centcom).
“We will call them to a meeting as soon as our schedule permits so we can discuss whatever issues that may have arisen from the recent decision (to transfer the Centcom headquarters),” Garcia said in a press conference yesterday.
Earlier, Apas barangay officials aired their apprehensions over the possible eviction of occupants of the military camp once Capitol takes over.
Apas Barangay Councilor Ramil Ayuman expressed concern because the Capitol’s plan to develop the property will wipe out a significant portion of the barangay’s population.
Ayuman said that aside from bringing the matter up before the council session, they will also hold dialogues with various urban poor groups in the barangay.
They said they can ask the governor to allow residents to buy their lots, but Garcia had already announced that Capitol will not sell or donate any of the land.
At the press conference yesterday, Garcia said she will respect the 400 families identified as beneficiaries of a National Government housing project inside the camp. But she said Vice President Noli de Castro, who heads the government’s housing program, already agreed that these beneficiaries must be relocated elsewhere.
The socialized housing is inside the camp, which the Capitol donated on Oct. 12, 1959 on the condition that it must be used for military purposes. The socialized housing violates that condition.
“By the very fact that there were already recognized informal settlers-turned beneficiaries proved that the condition was not met. But we also take into consideration their plight,” the governor said.
De Castro is aware that there are “other encroachments,” she said, and expressed that the Capitol will insist on the list of 400 beneficiaries.
When asked about occupants outside the list, the governor said it is urgent that the reversion to the Capitol be formalized the soonest possible time to secure the property from professional squatters.
“The point is whether we will allow and encourage this or do what is right,” the governor said. (JPM)
