Subdivision homeowners block heavy equipment

Police were able to diffuse a tense standoff between a group of construction workers along with a representative of a hotel owner and residents of the El Dorado Homeowners Association in barangay Banilad yesterday morning.

This is after a payloader and heavy equipment was blocked from entering the gate along Archbishop Reyes Avenue by security guards of the El Dorado Subdivision.

The guards said they were ordered by the homeowners association officers not to allow the entry of heavy equipment going to the site where an extension of the hotel owned by Lorenza Ford is being constructed.

A car owned by one of the residents blocked the inner part of the gate purportedly to block the heavy equipment if it crushes the gate.

Policemen from Mabolo police station led by Insp. Pedro Quevedo responded to the alarm and were able to diffuse the tension.

The homeowners showed to the police a photocopy of a letter reportedly from the homeowner's association president Dolores Soberano warning policemen and people working in the site not to trespass on their premises.

On top of the letter were photocopies of the calling cards of regional police chief Silverio Alarcio and city police chief Melvin Gayotin with their signatures affixed in the back.

Ford, 78, who owns a hotel located along A.S. Fortuna Street said she has the right to use the road through the gates leading to the construction site as it is not a private property.

The said "extension" for the hotel is constructed on a 530-square-meter lot next to the house of the homeowner's association vice president Camilo Garay, but the lot's corner is behind the hotel in A.S. Fortuna.

The only way to go to the site is to use the entrance gate in Archbishop Reyes Avenue or the exit gate of the subdivision along A.S. Fortuna Street.

Upon learning that the heavy equipment was blocked by the homeowners, Ford ordered the gate facing the Archbishop Reyes Avenue blocked by their payloader and said she will not remove it if the residents will not give in.

"What is the reason why they won't allow us to get in, the others were allowed to get inside and I am not? They have no right to close the gate this is a public utility gate," Ford said.

Meanwhile, Garay said that the issuance of the hotel's building permit is questionable because they were not informed about Ford's intention to build a five-story hotel inside their subdivision.

He also questioned how Ford obtained clearances from the barangay, the Office of the Building Official, and other offices to have her hotel built.

He added that with a hotel, their safety will be compromised and might also affect the drainage system in the area.

"Residential gud ni, kung magtukod sila og hotel dinhi maapektaran ang security sa mga residente dinhi kay 24 hours gyud na nga open unya five-story building gud na maapektahan gyud ang among drainage," Garay said.

Yesterday, not only residents of El Dorado were affected because there are two more subdivision in the interior portion of the same block that use the same road from Archbishop Reyes Avenue.

Garay claimed that the homeowners associations of these two subdivisions pledged to support their cause and might be willing to join them in filing complaints before the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board and possibly in court.

Gayotin, meanwhile, clarified that his calling card on a letter does not mean anything.

"Wala ta mag-ingon nga duna tay gidapigan ana kay magkinahanglan man na og court order, internal conflict ra na nila, ang ato ana nga dili sila magkagubot," - Edwin Ian Melecio