THE cities of Sagay and Cadiz in Negros Occidental should settle their road boundary dispute, said Provincial Engineering Office (PEO) head Ernie Mapa Thursday.

Mapa said his office has determined that the closed road in Puroks Camponegro and Zone 6 in Barangay Magsaysay, Cadiz is a “city road” although he was told by the barangay captain that “it is a barangay road under the city government of Cadiz.”

“The area is in the boundary of Cadiz and Sagay. The province has no jurisdiction over the area,” he added.

However, Provincial Legal Officer Jose Maria Valencia said Thursday that he will wait for the report of the PEO on the matter.

“After we receive the report, I will talk to Cadiz Mayor Patrick Escalante so they would take the necessary expropriation proceedings,” he said.

Valencia said that the province also has a counterpart in the process.

He pointed out that the problem with the expropriation is the determination of compensation for the owner.

"We prefer that it goes through the legal process rather than through negotiations as we are bounded by the restrictions of the Commission on Audit,” Valencia said.

“We will then have a writ of possession and take custody of the road,” he added.

In a letter to Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr., the 362 signatories “representing some 500 families” said the sudden closure of the road in Barangay Tadlong, Sagay “that’s been there for many years” in the land of the Ballesteros family, had been adversely affecting them, or a total of about 500 families in the Cadiz side alone.

They said they are “requesting the governor to intervene now to ease their plight as the closure had been costing them higher transport fare costs and making their daily routine more difficult.”