Council still undecided on new "Ciudad" project

Vice Mayor Michael Rama yesterday said the City Council has not yet sat down to discuss the possible lifting of the resolution banning the provincial government from going on with its proposed project in barangay Banilad.

Rama, who sits as the chairman of the City Council, said that the decision of the Capitol to directly negotiate with the affected families is good but he could not say if the city council will lift the moratorium on the province's project.

He refused to comment on the move of the province to "claim" some of its properties that are in the city by closing them but said the city is one in its stand on the land swap issue.

But he added that if negotiations between the capitol and the 5,000 city residents succeed, the city council might lift the moratorium on Capitol's project.

"It may follow but I don't want to make it official," Rama said, adding that despite the conflict between the province and the city now, he foresees the two local government units coming to terms and working together.

Two days ago Governor Gwendolyn Garcia announced that Capitol will no longer proceed with the land swap deal and decided to directly negotiate with the affected families.

The rift between the two local government units started when the capitol threatened to evict some 5,000 Cebu City residents living in various province-owned lots in the city after they failed to complete their payments for the lots they have been occupying for the last 15 years.

Provincial Resolution 93-1 allowed these people to purchase the land they are occupying on installment for the period of five years, from 1993 to 1998. This was later extended to 2004 but when they sought another extension Garcia no longer allowed it and vetoed a new resolution seeking to move the deadline for payments.

To save the city residents, Mayor Tomas Osmeña came up with an unsolicited proposal to Garcia for a land swap deal whereby the city assumes ownership of the province-owned lots where these residents are living while the capitol gets to own a prime piece of property at the North Reclamation Area.

However, Rama angered Garcia when he accused the province of getting more out of the deal than the city during a privilege speech. The province dropped the deal and ordered a reassessment of its properties.

Recently, the capitol announced it is ready to renegotiate but under new terms -a "value-for-value" exchange of properties instead of the earlier idea of swapping its 536,986 square meters with the city's 37,554 square meters at the North Reclamation Area.

The city's property is worth P415 million while the province claims its lots are worth P3.2 billion.

With this proposal, the province will keep the most prized commercial lots and residents occupying the other lots will be evicted, depending on whatever counter proposal the city government thinks of, according to Garcia.

However, the value for value proposal, not all the city's residents who are beneficiaries of the Resolution 93-1 occupying the province's properties will benefit from the land swap.

This prompted the Cebu City council to pass a resolution seeking a freeze in any development of a 2.8-hectare province-owned property in Banilad. The area is the site of the proposed commercial complex that would be called "Ciudad," from which the Capitol is expected to gain P2 billion.

The resolution asked the Cebu City Planning Office not to approve any development plans in the area pending a study of its impact on traffic in the area. - Wenna A. Berondo/BRP