City offers legal assistance to residents of "93-1" lots

CEBU - The Cebu City government has promised to help its residents affected by Provincial Ordinance 93-1 obtain their deed of sale after the provincial government already gave some of the documents last month.

Councilor Hilario Davide III, a lawyer, was tasked by Mayor Tomas Osmeña to assist some of the residents who have not yet received their deed of sale for possible legal assistance.

There are about 4,000 occupants living in Capitol-owned lots in 11 city barangays but only 589 have fully paid for the lots they have occupied for more than 15 years.

Last October 27, around 600 occupants personally received their deed of absolute sale from Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia in a turnover ceremony at the Cebu International Convention Center.

There are still other city residents who have yet to receive their deed of absolute sale from the provincial government, 171 of them are from Lahug, 48 from Camputhaw, 23 from Apas, nine from Busay, 15 from Mabolo, 18 from Capitol Site, 21 from Kalunasan, seven from Lorega and 277 from Luz.

The provincial government has been dealing directly with the occupants when the land swap deal between the province and the city failed to materialize.

Provincial Ordinance 93-1 sets several conditions for the release of the deed of sale: The lot must be used for residential purposes exclusively, the beneficiary must be an actual occupant, the beneficiary must not be a member of any squatting syndicate, and the beneficiary must not own any residential lot within Metro Cebu.

According to Provincial Attorney Marino Martinquilla, many of those who have fully paid have violated some of the conditions and are under review.

Due to the failed land swap deal, a word war arose between Osmeña and Garcia, prompting the mayor to order a moratorium on developments in the Banilad area, which affected the Ciudad project of the province.

Occupants of the provincial lots were given three grace periods to settle their accounts which were granted during the term of former governor Vicente dela Serna.

Since most of the occupants failed to settle their existing obligations, the provincial government gave them until 1999 and then later 2004 to pay.

Despite the two extensions, many occupants have not been able to pay and appealed for another extension. But this time Garcia declined.— Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/BRP (THE FREEMAN)