Thursday, August 14, 2008 Tomas to watch Capitol’s dealing with occupants
CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña warned Capitol officials he is closely watching how they treat occupants of Province-owned lots. He also vowed to protect his constituents in every legal way he can.
In his news conference yesterday, Osmeña said he does not mind if the occupants deal directly with Capitol as long as their arrangement will be for the good of the occupants and that they would be agreeable to whatever the Province will offer them.
“Whatever it is, I’ll just do my job and I’ll protect my people in every way I can. They don’t have to deal with me, but I’m just behind the occupants and I will be carrying a stick,” said the mayor.
Osmeña also pointed out that the Provincial Government still has not awarded the land titles to those who have long paid for their lots in full.
Reminder
“Let me remind you that even those who have fully paid still don’t have their titles. Capitol is not complying with what they promised the occupants for the longest time. They said they will release it, they have been saying that for the last five years,” he said.
Some 5,000 families are occupying Province-owned lots scattered in 12 barangays in Cebu City. Some of them could face eviction because of their failure to pay within the prescribed period under Provincial Ordinance 93-1.
A foiled land swap agreement between the Province and the City Government resulted in a rift between Osmeña and Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia since 2005 and both have been at odds with each other since then.
Yesterday, the mayor said he is used to the insults he gets from the governor and his other critics, which he said is just a part of his job.
While he considers the governor’s tirade an irritation sometimes, Osmeña said it should not affect his job and it should not affect the decisions he makes.
‘Bad’ example
In the same news conference, the mayor said he understands Msgr. Achilles Dakay’s sentiments, who reportedly said in a radio interview that Garcia and Osmeña are not setting a good example to the public with their conflict.
“Because he is a priest. In the church, there is no democracy and the priests just follow what the guy on top says... So it’s natural that he would say that kay pari man siya. Priests don’t quarrel because there’s such a thing as dogma. But I’m not a priest and this is a democracy, and democracy means away, a clash of ideas,” said Osmeña.
He said, though, that he has nothing against Dakay, the archdiocesan media liaison officer, or the latter’s comments on his conflict with the governor.
“As a matter of fact, I understand where he is coming from. But this city and Cebu is not a church, it’s democratic so he should understand that also,” the mayor continued. (LCR)
