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Monday, May 09, 2005
Help win investors: Gullas to Talisay
CEBU CITY -- Representative Eduardo Gullas wants the Talisay City Council to pass a resolution that guarantees investors they "will not be unnecessarily dragged into our conflict with Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña."
Gullas (Cebu, 1st district) also told Sun.Star Cebu that he has asked Talisay officials to guarantee they will respect the contract between Cebu City and investors who will occupy the South Reclamation Project (SRP) portion claimed by Talisay.
"We do not want to be blamed if there is no economic development at the SRP. We are just a convenient target for their (Cebu City's) failure to pay the loan. The fact is, they failed to pay because their debt ballooned from P2 billion to P6.3 billion," he said in a phone interview.
Later, in a press statement, Gullas urged Talisay officials to encourage investors to pour capital into the SRP.
"I am aware, however, that a final adjudication of the conflict will take a long time, which is why I have asked our officials of Talisay to do everything possible to encourage investors and address their fears of getting dragged into the controversy," the statement read.
Talisay City finds it immaterial to argue about the ownership of the SRP, because it already conceded that Cebu City owns the project.
"It is about the territory, not the project. I am 100 percent in supporting Malacañang or the DENR (issuing) the title for the project to Cebu City. No quarrel about that. (But) If investments grow in areas that we have claimed, the concerned investors should pay taxes to us, not to Cebu City," Mayor Socrates Fernandez said.
Fernandez said Cebu City should not fight Talisay over the titling of the entire SRP, but focus instead on three prominent families in Barangay San Roque whose properties became part of the project.
"Hasta ko, naglibog kon giunsa pagpatitulo sa dagat. Mao nay lisod iskrimahon sa Cebu City," he said. (I'm amazed how titles were issued for seawater. That's what Cebu City should look into next.)
Fernandez had no objections to President Arroyo's statement that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) can go on with the titling of the 295-hectare project even if no presidential decree is issued.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has said that when the title is issued to Cebu City, it is without prejudice to Talisay's claim.
"Our search for a final answer to the question of the legality, propriety and morality of Cebu City's encroachment of Talisay territory will go on," Gullas, for his part, said.
Talisay is claiming 53.44 hectares of the entire project.
However, the National Mapping and Information Resource Authority (Namria) has said that only 2.087 hectares of the project encroached on Talisay's territory.
The Talisay City Council, led by Vice Mayor Aberdovey Belleza, has expressed willingness for a joint session with members of the Cebu City Council to resolve the conflict, but only if Namria corrects its original survey.
They also want the joint session to be presided over by an official of the Department of Interior and Local Government.
Fernandez said that as soon as the title is issued to Cebu City, a joint council session should be held immediately. (AIV)
(May 9, 2005 issue)
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