Tuesday, July 29, 2008 Tomas asks GMA to honor declaration of Centcom lots
CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has asked President Arroyo to “honor her proclamation” that identified portions of the Central Command (Centcom) lots as socialized housing sites.
The 80-hectare Centcom lots were donated by the Cebu Province on Oct. 12, 1959 and were expressly specified as a military reservation.
But portions were occupied by soldiers and their dependents that in June 2003, President Arroyo declared 16 of the 47 lots as socialized housing sites.
Presidential Proclamation 409 declared “certain parcels of land situated in Barangay Apas, Cebu City as socialized housing sites under Republic Act 7279, otherwise known as the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992.”
Authority
The 1,200 beneficiaries have asked that the land title, which is with the Central Command and the Capitol, be turned over to the National Housing Authority (NHA).
Last Oct. 12, however, the Provincial Government and Centcom officials signed a memorandum of understanding turning over the property back to Capitol.
Arroyo witnessed the signing of the agreement.
Interviewed last year, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia had said that Vice President Noli de Castro, who heads the country’s housing program, had said de Castro already agreed that all 400 beneficiaries in the socialized housing program within the Centcom would be transferred to another Capitol property.
Recovery of the Centcom property has also muddled the Capitol’s relationship with the Cebu City Hall, whose officials had threatened that to protect residents they will declare Capitol properties as socialized housing sites or parks.
In a press conference yesterday, the mayor said he requested the President to respect the presidential proclamation she signed.
“We’re asking the President to honor her proclamation. I gave her a reminder when she was here…. I am just simply asking the president to stick to her own proclamation,” the mayor said.
Arroyo visited Cebu City Hall Thursday last week to inaugurate the session hall, which was named after her mother.
The mayor said that he never really got a chance to get a response or an assurance from the President because she had to attend to hundreds of people.
Osmeña said he simply handed to her his letter.
“I just made singit with her,” he said.
Occupants of the Centcom lots are currently waiting for Garcia to act on the Alliance of Barangay Apas Community Associations proposal endorsed by the Technical Working Group that the Capitol and the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council created. (RHM)
