City Hall to buy Hipodromo lot

CEBU, Philippines - Officials of the Cebu City Government and owners of the parcel of lot in Barangay Hipodromo that is occupied by the urban poor families for the past 15 years are scheduled to meet today as the city has already decided to pay the lot based on the court-declared “just compensation.”

City administrator Francisco “Bimbo” Fernandez said Mayor Tomas Osmeña is planning to use the 2,856 square meter lot that is owned by spouses Ciriaco and Arminda Ortega as location for a new public market.

Fernandez, who has granted absolute authority by the mayor to make decisions involving urban poor matters, explained that the urban poor families living in the lot cannot afford to pay the P11,000 per square meter cost of the lot. But he assured that even if the lot will be purchased by the city, it does not mean that the occupants will be evicted immediately without giving them relocation sites as provided for by the law.

Some representatives of the Ortega family went to City Hall yesterday, but only Fernandez entertained them because the mayor was also busy entertaining other visitors.

Later in a press conference, Osmeña said he did not change his earlier plan to convert the lot into a mini market.

While the court records show that the city is liable to pay P31.4 million to the Ortega couple, Fernandez said the cost of the lot is only P28 million.

The mayor earlier said that the city will relocate the occupants of the lot and each of the affected families shall be provided with disturbance fees, although the amount shall be discussed yet by the city officials.

Osmeña ordered to expropriate the Ortega lot in 1994 to prevent the eviction of the more than 100 families living on it, but the city wanted to withdraw from the expropriation case after the court set the just compensation at P11,000 per square meter. The mayor said the price is too expensive for the urban poor families.

But the Supreme Court last month ruled that the city cannot withdraw from the expropriation case because it would be unfair for the lot owners who were deprived of their rights to use the lot which they have been occupying for almost 20 years.

The Ortega couple owns a 5,712 square meter lot in Hipodromo, but 2,856 square meters of it is being occupied by squatters that prompted them to file an ejectment case in court, which later rendered a decision in favor of the lot owners. – Rene U. Borromeo/WAB   (FREEMAN NEWS)