City Hall to help residents facing eviction

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City administrator Francisco “Bimbo” Fernandez has assured occupants of the lot at the back of Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center that the city will provide them a lawyer in the eviction case they are presently facing.

Members of Bidlisiw-Mansanitas Neighborhood Association in barangay Sambag II trooped to City Hall Wednesday afternoon to seek for help against the eviction case.

They said they wanted to verify the real status of the case in court, but the clerk of court advised them to hire a lawyer because they could not understand the contents of the documents.

The urban poor residents started to occupy the place after the World War II, believing that the vacant lot is owned by Southern Islands Hospital, now Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.

Hospital officials even tried to eject them several decades ago. But in 1995, Joselito Rallos filed a civil case in court, claiming ownership of the property.

Rallos is one of the heirs of the late Victoria Rallos, who owned Lot 482, and reportedly won the court battle against VSMMC over ownership of the property.

It was learned that the lot was previously donated to the Department of Health on condition that it will only be used by the Southern Islands Hospital. But since it was occupied by the squatters, the heirs of Rallos took it back.

The residents in the area said they are in need of a lawyer to defend them in the case, claiming that they had been occupying the area for the past 50 years.

They also wanted the city to help them convince the lot owner to allow them to own the property in line with the government’s program on housing for the less privilege.

The city government has an existing housing program for the urban poor, under which it will purchase the lot occupied by the beneficiaries and will allow them to pay on installment basis. — Rene U. Borromeo/LPM (THE FREEMAN)