Monday, November 03, 2008 City allocates P15M to pay Palicte heirs for property
THE executive department is asking the Cebu City Council to approve the P69.18-million sup-plemental budget (SB) 3, which includes a P15-million payment for the property of the Palictes, whose court case the city lost.
The requested allocation also includes another P15 million as obligation to the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) that the City Government assumed when it forfeited in its favor the Citicenter Commercial Complex in Barangay Kamagayan in 2007.
City Administrator Francisco Fernandez said that while P15 million may be considered big, its payment is in exchange for a property worth over a hundred million.
“Bayaran sa syudad kumpara kung mo-agi na pud na og kaso-kaso. Pero it is still subject for review sa (City) legal (department) and the Commission on Audit (The City will pay the amount instead of undergoing litigation),” he said.
City Hall gained ownership of the property last year after its owners failed to settle their tax obligations.
Occupied
The property covers 7,281 square meters of land and two buildings, with a total area of 4,884 square meters.
The complex occupies over half of the lot, while the rest is occupied by over 50 families, though it was originally intended for dormitories.
Built in 1983, the Citicenter has become a home to, among others, squatters and suspects of theft, commercial sex and the illegal drugs trade since its closure.
City Hall plans to clear the complex to improve peace and order in the area and to increase the marketability of the property.
On the Palicte property, the court has ordered in the middle of this year the garnishment of City accounts as payment for the heirs of Matilde Palicte.
Garnishment is a court order to a company or entity to withhold all or part of its money and send the sum garnished to the person or organization that won a lawsuit.
The City was ordered to pay the Palictes P20,589,409.50, representing the unpaid purchase price of the expropriated property, interests and legal fees.
On May 8, 2002, Cebu City made a partial payment of P725,881. The next year, close to P9 million was garnished as partial payment, leaving a total unpaid balance of P14,093,335.
But interests, computed starting Dec. 4, 2001, already total P6,214,208 as of June this year.
The City is asking the Palicte heirs to waive the P6.2 million accumulated interest that they are demanding and said it will immediately pay the P14 million balance.
Payment for the Pa-licte property was supposedly included in the approved SB 2 last September, but it was withdrawn because of the negotiations.
The Palictes want Cebu City to pay the principal balance of more than P14 million in full with the interest payable in two years.
The City is using the lot as a relocation for informal settlers who are socialized housing beneficiaries.
According to records of the City Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor, the lot is now occupied by some 170 families.
SB 3 also includes a P1.6-million appropriation as payment for an anti-virus equipment for the Management Information and Computer Services (Mics) and P2.95-million for an X-ray machine for the City Health Department.
Funding for SB 3 will be sourced from the balance of the 2008 annual budget totaling P66 million and receipts from Fort San Pedro operations amounting to P2.4 million.
The Philippine Tourism Authority last January “returned” the Fort San Pedro to the Cebu City Government, which it said is the rightful manager of the historical site.
The P142,992 budget of the City abattoir and P657,715.72 budget for personal services of the City market operations will be taken from their own revenues. (RHM)
