CEBU, Philippines - Vice President Jejomar Binay requested Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama to allocate P50 million as a “goodwill deposit” to the Province of Cebu for the acquisition of the Capitol-owned lots in the city which are now occupied by some 3,000 urban poor families.
Collin Rosell, the head of the Division for the Welfare of Urban Poor, said they will ask the City Council through Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young to allocate the needed amount.
In a two-page letter dated last August 8, Binay, being the chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, told Rama that his office supports the implementation of the Provincial Ordinance 93-1.
The ordinance gave the occupants of the province-owned lots a chance to own the properties they are occupying through installment payments, but still the families failed to settle their obligation even after they were given 10 years to pay.
Binay said the HUDCC and the Cebu City government will help each other to negotiate with the Cebu provincial officials for the sale of its properties which were previously covered by the Provincial Ordinance 93-1 at “socialized housing price.”
Although the amount of the lot is the subject of discussions by the city and provincial officials, Rosell said they will try to negotiate with Governor Gwendolyn Garcia that the price of the lot would be based when Ordinance 93-1 was enacted.
HUDCC proposed that the disposition of the properties be undertaken through the Community Mortgage Program of the Social Housing Finance Corp., and the National Housing Authority to be community organizer while the city, through the DWUP, will act as the convenor.
According to Binay the Province of Cebu will be paid the selling price of its land through the loan by the community association only when the organizational requirements and in particular the deed of sale on the property are fully complied.
Rosell explained that the members of the City Council should not be worried because the P50 million to be allocated for the purpose will be reimbursed from the proceeds of the loan of the beneficiaries from the Community Mortgage Program.
“This option is being taken as an alternative against the proposal to land swap a prime property of the city as payment for the Capitol-owned property under the Provincial Ordinance 93-1,” Binay said.
Former mayor and incumbent Cebu City South district Rep. Tomas Osmeña had proposed a land swap deal between the Capitol and Cebu City, but it was not realized when Rama, who was still the vice mayor, delivered a privilege speech before the City Council saying that the province might be considered as “daw-li” in that agreement.
“Daw-li” refers to the word “Dawat Limpyo” because according to Rama in that land swap deal the province may just accept clean piece of land, while the city will face so many problems like collecting the payments from the occupants of the province-owned lots.
Rosell is hoping that the city council will also help to finally settle the “long and unanswered” problems of the hundreds of urban poor families in the city. (FREEMAN)