Friday, August 17, 2007 Cebu City to screen lot 93-1 urban poor
CAPITOL consultant Rory Jon Sepulveda said that if the City wants to be “very generous” to the landless, they better declare the South Road Properties (SRP) a resettlement area rather than being generous about properties that do not belong to them.
“Then the Province will not misconstrue their generosity as misplaced,” said Sepulveda.
Sepulveda added that proposed amendment to the City Zoning ordinance is not new to them, citing what he thinks an amendment in 2005 that may have been “tailored fit” for a school owned by a city councilor.
The Capitol expects to be heard in a public hearing and make manifestation as property owner on the City’s plan to rezone some barangays, a move which Mayor Tomas Osmeña said may not prevent eviction of occupants but will prevent the Capitol from making money out of the lots.
The best scenario, according to Sepulveda, is for the Capitol and the City Hall to agree but the worst case is for the Capitol to go to court in case it feels that its constitutional rights as owner are violated.
“Ila nang katungod pag rezone. Mag-ampo lang ta nga and lotowner maka benefit sa ilang pag rezone, ug dili lang ang occupants, such as allowing an educational facility in a business district,” he said.
Provincial Board Member Agnes Mapale said she has apprehensions about the proposed rezoning, as it might derail ongoing negotiations between the Capitol and the occupants of its lots spread in various barangays in Cebu City. In the same TV Patrol report, PB Member Wenceslao Gakit also said that it’s too early for Cebu City to rezone areas where there are Capitol properties because the City does not know yet what the Capitol will do with these lots.
As that developed, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia yesterday met with the Apas Barangay Captain Clemente Rosales and officials of the Alliance of Barangay Apas Community Association (Abaca).
Garcia assured Abaca officials that all their members, being qualified beneficiaries of a National Government socialized housing project, will be given land although this does not necessarily mean the ones they are currently occupying.
Abaca President Marlyn Paracuelles said that they do not like to move out of their present location, which they have “learned to love,” but on this Garcia replied, “That will close all options… Don’t force me into a corner because I don’t want to be refused into a corner.”
As for occupants who are not in the list of beneficiaries, they will be evicted, a plan that Abaca supports. The Capitol’s anti-squatting task force will meet next week with Abaca to discuss the matter of asking the other occupants to move out. (JPM)
