Capitol, City cautious but also upbeat on 93-1

CEBU City Mayor Michael Rama hopes that the City Government and the Province will finalize this week the draft memorandum of agreement that will resolve the Ordinance 93-1 lots issue.

Rama said he will meet again with City officials to discuss this matter.

At the Capitol, Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, who is currently the acting governor, said that the Province and Cebu City Hall officials agreed that the payment for the 93-1 lots should be higher than P500 million, which the City earlier proposed.

Last Sept. 18, Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III and other officials in the Province met with Mayor Rama to talk about the Province-owned lots occupied by City residents.

Rama was with Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella, City Legal Officer Jerone Castillo, and Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor Chief Collin Rosell during the meeting.

Davide was accompanied by Magpale, Provincial Board Member Peter John Calderon, Provincial Administrator Mark Tolentino and Provincial Legal Officer Orvi Ortega.

“Kay ang amo baya’ng gika-agrehan (What we agreed on was) more than the original offer, which is P500 million. It was already approved in principle by the two parties during that time (the meeting). Ning-uyon sila naa pay dugang (The City officials agreed the amount would be larger),” Magpale told reporters.

What’s fair?

Earlier, the Province asked for a 3.3-hectare property in the North Reclamation Area, which has a current value of P1.3 billion, aside from the P500 million.

The Capitol said this is “most fair and just” compensation for the unpaid 93-1 lots, which are valued at P1.8 billion.

Thirty-two hectares of the 51-hectare property covered under Provincial Ordinance 93-1 have not yet been paid for.

Magpale did not divulge if the amount that she was referring to was what the Capitol offered.

The vice governor said that the technical working groups (TWG) in the Capitol and City Hall will prepare a memorandum of agreement, which will be presented to the City Council and Provincial Board.

In a separate interview, Mayor Rama said he did not want to discuss the price of the 93-1 lots.

“We will not be discussing it for now. So ang pinaka-importante karon (The important thing) is we already agreed and we will not be talking about what we have discussed kay daghan kaayo gusto mangapil (so many people want to weigh in on this issue),” Rama said.

Timeline

He said the TWG of the Capitol and the City will just sit down to talk about this.

“So I wish within this week (we can finalize the MOA). I will have to call Collin and make the initiative na maglingkod na sila (that they will meet with the Capitol officials),” Rama said.

The mayor did not mention if there was an amendment of the MOA that the City proposed to the Capitol.

Magpale said the two TWG are now drafting a MOA. She said she did not know when this would be finished.

“We should have a timeline kay nagdali baya tanan (because everyone is in a hurry to solve this). I don’t know if what we have agreed on will pass the City Council,” Magpale said.

Twenty-two years ago, the Province passed an ordinance that allowed occupants of Capitol-owned lots in 11 Cebu City barangays to acquire their home lots. However, to this day, not everyone has paid in full for the lots.

The City and the Capitol explored a land exchange in 2006, but the talks collapsed before a deal could be reached.