Final demand issued for city to pay Palicte heirs P13.8 million

CEBU, Philippines - The Regional Trial Court has already issued a final demand to the Cebu City government to pay the remaining P13.8 million to the families of the late Matilde Palicte whose 5,285-square-meter lot in Capitol Site was expropriated by the city for its urban poor project in 2001.

If the city still fails to settle its obligation until August 29 of this year, court sheriff Antonio Bellones said that it would be charged P237,825 every month as interest of the P13,891,586 unsettled balance.

The court’s final demand for the payment of the Palicte property was directly sent to the office of Mayor Tomas Osmeña.

The court records showed that the city still has a balance of P13.8 million because its overall accountabilities to the heirs of Palicte had reached to P37,198,436 but the rest of the total amount was already garnished from the city’s depository banks.

Bellones explained that the amount will continue to increase if no payment will be made on August 29.

The total amount of funds that was paid by the city, including those that were garnished from its depository banks, have already reached the original price of the lot.

The Palicte lot was expropriated by the city eight years ago to prevent eviction of the more than 200 urban poor families living in that area.

Before Palicte passed away a few years ago, she had successfully convinced Judge Donato Navarro of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities to order for the demolition of the illegal structures on her lot, but Osmeña offered to expropriate the lot.

While Osmeña is willing to expropriate the property, he refused to pay the court-approved just compensation of the lot at P4,500 per square meter because it is “too expensive for the urban poor families to pay.”

The appellate court also dismissed the city’s appeal because the city lawyers did it only after the decision of the trial court became final and executory. — Rene U. Borromeo/MEEV (THE FREEMAN)