Tomas won't clear old Citicenter. yet

CEBU, Philippines - Although Mayor Tomas Osmeña is very much in favor of the suggestion to convert the former Citicenter Commercial Complex building in barangay Kamagayan into a parking area for city-owned vehicles, he said now is not the right time to do it because of the approaching elections next year.

Osmeña said he does not want that Vice Mayor Michael Rama —who already announced his plan to run as mayor in the forthcoming elections— to be pressured by the dozens of squatters who are presently occupying the former market building and will be affected if the city decides to have them evicted.

The mayor said he is sure that once he will order for the clearing of the former market —that is already owned by the city for failure of its owner to pay its real property and business taxes— the concerned squatters will quickly run and seek the intervention of Rama.

“I don’t want that the vice mayor will be pressured by the concerned occupants,” Osmeña explained.

In an earlier interview, Rama said he is also in favor of converting the Citicenter Commercial Complex into a parking area for city-owned vehicles.

It means that the squatters living in the old market in barangay Kamagayan can still be allowed to stay in that place until after the next year’s elections.

Kamagayan barangay captain Celestino Avila said he was happy when he learned of the latest developments, although he is also not against the conversion.

More than 100 families are now staying in that structure that used to be a wet market. Some of the residents said they are paying “rent” to persons who claimed to be the caretakers of the “owners”.

Some of the residents in that old market welcomed the decision of the mayor to allow them to continue stay in their present location.

“Salamat tawon kay maproblema g’yod mi kon palayason kami karon sa syudad,” a woman who lived in the place said.

The title of the P18.5 million-worth property has already been transferred to the name of the City of Cebu after its owners failed to pay their taxes and redeem it within the one-year redemption period after it was auctioned in 2003.

The properties of the Citicenter Commercial Complex consisting of a parcel of land and two buildings that were auctioned by the city in 2003 for only P4.3 million to satisfy the tax obligation of its owners, but nobody bid for it.

The city government does not have a covered parking space for its vehicles that prompted the city officials to allow its drivers to bring the vehicles to their respective homes every after their work. — Rene Borromeo/BRP (THE FREEMAN)