Wednesday, July 09, 2008 CH to fight for zoo lot in court, vows Tomas
CEBU City Hall will fight in court what it said was Capitol’s “illegal maneuver.”
That was how Mayor Tomas Osmeña described the signing of an agreement between the Capitol and the Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP) last June 26.
The agreement paved the way for the return of a 228,910-square-meter property to the Provincial Government.
The City has a stake in the agreement because the land in Barangay Kalunasan includes a seven-hectare area where the Cebu City zoo stands.
Threat
After last year’s falling out with city officials, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia had threatened to take back the Kalunasan lot.
“That was an illegal maneuver on their part. I cannot respond by saying what I will do…, but we’re not going to give up the zoo,” the mayor told a news conference yesterday.
He wants to assert the City’s right to the property, more so after a private investor has shown interest to manage the zoo.
Osmeña said the City was willing to hand over the property as a gesture of goodwill to the Capitol during the height of the land swap negotiations last year, where Cebu City constituents living in Province-owned lots stood to gain.
The mayor said the City even “bended backwards” that time to accommodate the Capitol “in the spirit of goodwill.”
In Oct. 14, 1963, the Provincial Government donated 228,910 square meters of land to the BSP, which is now used as a campsite and training center for scouts.
Zoo
Seven hectares, specifically a gully in the area, were excluded from the BSP’s use because the parcel was set aside for the zoo, which was at the Fort San Pedro that time.
In 1971, the zoo was managed by Lamplighters World Peace Mission (Phils.) Inc. headed by the late priest Elueterio Tropa. When Tropa died, management of the facility was turned over to City Hall.
Last month, Capitol officials and BSP National President and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Capitol for the turnover of the BSP campsite.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources will help identify the area for the new BSP campsite, which would be in the province.
Binay told reporters that the turnover of the BSP campsite to the Province was a “bilateral understanding.”
The BSP, though, would only transfer once the new site of the BSP campsite is identified and there’s a presidential proclamation for it. (RHM)
