Tuesday, November 25, 2008 IBP, Capitol to trade assistance
THE Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP)-Cebu City Chapter and Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia met yesterday and agreed to exchange assistance.
IBP-Cebu City Chapter president Briccio Boholst also said yesterday that it has been exerting efforts to stop the operation of a canteen renting a space inside its building premises.
But stopping the canteen’s operation will undergo due process, he said.
Boholst also said he could not remember entering into a contract of lease with a businesswoman for the canteen at the ground floor of the IBP building.
“I don’t recall seeing a valid and existing contract (of lease),” Boholst told reporters after the group’s closed-door meeting with Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia at the Capitol yesterday.
During the meeting, Garcia and several members of the IBP-Cebu City Chapter discussed the pay parking scheme Capitol is implementing and the operation of a canteen inside the IBP building.
Garcia earlier questioned the contract of lease that the IBP-Cebu City Chapter signed with businesswoman Gina Dumadag for the lease of the canteen space.
Usufruct
The issue was discussed in Garcia’s recent meeting with officials of IBP-Cebu City and Province chapters regarding the collection of parking fees inside the Capitol compound.
The Cebu Provincial Board passed a resolution in 1994 granting usufruct rights to the lawyers’ group for the construction of the IBP building inside the Capitol compound.
But Boholst clarified that the IBP-Cebu City Chapter is not questioning Capitol’s ownership of the property where the league’s office stands.
“We recognize the ownership of the Provincial Government. This is precisely why we are here. We… requested for some concession (on the pay parking scheme),” Boholst said.
He also confirmed asking for a “special” parking rate from Garcia.
Boholst also said they will discuss how they could provide legal aid to Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) inmates.
“That (free legal aid to inmates) should be addressed with appropriate measures by the different boards of the two IBP chapters,” said Boholst.
Symbiotic
For her part, Garcia said she might give in to the lawyers’ request for discounted parking fees if they provide legal aid to CPDRC inmates.
“Ato ning himuon nga symbiotic relationship, dili parasitic. You (IBP Cebu City chapter) are here out of the generosity and goodwill of the Province. Let me justify the generosity and goodwill to the public by proving (to the public) duna sad mo’y gibalik diri sa probinsiya in the sense of extending legal aid to our CPDRC inmates,” said Garcia.
The governor said they will meet again next week to formalize the free legal aid program to the CPDRC inmates.
Meanwhile, the IBP–Cebu Chapter lauded the Cebu City Government for being active in the registration of voters.
“We are pleased that the Cebu City Government is taking the initiative of ensuring that as many residents are able to exercise their right to suffrage,” read an IBP letter, penned by lawyer Gloria Estenzo-Ramos, the organization’s chairperson of the environment committee.
The letter was sent to Acting Mayor Michael Rama, Acting Vice Mayor Hilario Davide III and Councilors Gerardo Carillo and Jose Daluz III.
It was a reaction to the Cebu City council’s plan to put up Commission on Elections (Comelec) satellite registration offices in three shopping malls in time for the registration of new voters on Dec. 2.
Ramos, in the letter, also invited the Cebu City Government to join the MOA signing along with other stakeholders, such as the environmental group Save the Tañon Strait Citizen’s Movement and representatives from the academe, business and civil society, to promote the “Go Out and Register” campaign.
They are asking the City to sign the MOA with them and Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento, who will be in Cebu this week for a speaking engagement.
