CEBU City Mayor Michael Rama has called out the Cebu Port Authority (CPA) for collecting parking fees in the Compaña Maritima area which he called a “stupid act.”
In a press conference Monday, Feb. 6, 2023, Rama was furious on learning that the CPA is earning money from parking tickets in the newly developed area, whose ownership is still being contested by the agency and the Cebu City Government.
According to Rama, the legal battle over ownership of the area is still ongoing, and yet the CPA is making money off the developments introduced by the Cebu City Government and funded by a private company.
SunStar Cebu was able to secure an official receipt of the parking ticket containing the CPA’s name and tax number with an hourly rate of P20 for “bicycles, tricycles and similar units.”
Pay parking rates are also posted inside the parking area indicating that the rate for four-wheeled vehicles is P25 per hour, while that for six-wheeled vehicles including buses, prime movers, and heavy equipment, is P200.
A P500 fine is also imposed by the CPA for violation of traffic rules like illegal parking, no stopping, and no waiting, and P2,000 for overnight parking.
Stop and arrest
Rama said the operation should stop. He even requested the assistance of the Cebu City Police Office in getting rid of the CPA’s parking attendants deployed in the area.
“They should never make that mistake. Strike them out. If not, arrest them. That is a directive,” said Rama.
Rama further said that what the CPA is doing is a form of “illegal extraction.”
In December 2022, the Regional Trial Court granted the CPA’s application for a writ of preliminary injunction (WPI) to prohibit the City Government and Megawide Construction Corp. (MCC) from occupying any portion of the Compaña Maritima area.
With the court’s decision, some development projects under the joint venture agreement of the City Government and MCC to modernize the Carbon Public Market have been halted.
In January 2021, the Cebu City Government and MCC had entered into a 50-year joint venture for the now P8 billion redevelopment of the century-old Carbon Market which includes the contested property.
Before the WPI was issued, the area was maintained by Cebu2World Development Inc. (C2W), a subsidiary of MCC.
C2W cleaned up the shell of the Compaña Maritima, landscaped the sidewalk, and cemented the area around the building to get rid of the mud.
SunStar Cebu reached out to CPA for its comment, but its management declined to provide a statement about Rama’s pronouncement.
Ready for war
Last Jan. 19, Rama made a pronouncement that he is prepared to go to war against the CPA because of its actions regarding the Maritima issue.
Rama also instructed all City Hall department heads to look into whatever dues can be collected from the CPA.
In his 15-page decision promulgated on Dec. 23, 2022 granting the WPI, Regional Trial Court Branch 10 Judge Soliver Peras favored the claim of the Republic of the Philippines, represented by the CPA, that the contested area belongs to the Baseport of Cebu and thus belongs to the state.
The CPA argued that the City Government had bargained away the former’s rights by allowing a private entity to take “undue advantage” of government property.
In July 2013, the City, under Rama, claimed ownership of the Compaña Maritima by acquiring a tax declaration certificate for the property, setting off the legal battle for ownership between the CPA and the Cebu City Government.
Since the area is no longer a port, City Hall argues, Compaña Maritima and its surroundings can no longer be subjected to the administration and control of the CPA.