Tomas: Ball now in Rama's hands

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña washes, this time, his hands off the Ting property deal after landowner Roque Ting expressed disinterest in pursuing a compromise with the city government.

Ting recently said he got fed up listening and reading about criticisms hurled at the compromise agreement for the purchase of the over 2,000-square-meter property he owns at the boundary of the cities of Talisay and Cebu on the South Road Properties.

Instead of the P13.5-million compromise payment, Ting will now push through with the case and demand for the P38.9 million the court ordered in 2008 to pay.

His decision came just as Vice Mayor Michael Rama, who cautioned earlier the city against the purchase, with the rest of the city officials decided that paying Ting P13.5 million is “advantageous to the city.”

Ting said he is willing to wait, and that even if he will no longer live to see the case resolved, for as long as he gets the amount and its interest which he will leave to his five children who have suffered when the government decided to take over his property and make it as part of the SRP.

When asked to comment about the foiled compromise agreement, an angry Osmeña said he is now delegating everything to Rama.

“Let VM Rama handle it. The ball is now on his hands. I made my point. He will assume the responsibility being the lawyer,” Osmeña said.

He will no longer let the City Legal Office approach Ting to convince him to change his mind.

“I said VM Rama assumed responsibility for this problem. I delegated this to him because he wanted it,” Osmeña said.

Rama, for his part, said that although the matter is now at the hands of the Legislative Department, but that it is just for support.

He said cases are still handled by the city legal office.

“But we will see where this will take us, we’ll see as it develops,” Rama said.

Rama, in the recent session, asked the presence of the CLO, City Planning and Development coordinator Nigel Paul Villarete, city treasurer Ofelia Oliva and all those who are knowledgeable to the development of the case from the very beginning in the scheduled hearing of supplemental budget 6 last Friday.

An appropriation of P13.5 million was included in SB6 supposedly for the payment of the lot purchase.

However, by Thursday Rama and the city officials decided to push through with the payment and that last Friday, Rama was not present during the budget hearing.

Eventually, the budget hearing led by Councilor Jose Daluz III merely discussed the technical terms to be used for auditing purposes.

It would not be a lot purchase since the city government has no intention of buying it. Instead, it is now a “just compensation to satisfy a court order,” this was further learned.

Ting’s property, which was over 4,000 square meters, was reduced into a little over 2,000 square meters after Toyo Construction then dug a channel across his property to serve as demarcation between the cities of Talisay and Cebu. — Ferliza C. Contratista/MEEV (THE FREEMAN)