Owner of Apas lot willing to negotiate

CEBU, Philippines - To arrive at a more agreeable and peaceful solution, the lawyer of the the owner of controversial Lot 937 in Barangay Apas said he is willing to sit with the lawyer of the residents to be ejected from his client’s property.

Atty. Roberto Palmares, lawyer of lot owner Mariano Godinez, told the court yesterday that they are willing to give more time for the residents to look for a relocation site. 

“If they are asking for more time, well and good,” Palmares said.

The parties in the case met in court yesterday as the city government needed to prove that the Urban Development Housing Act of 1992 must be applied in the course of evicting the residents of Sitio San Miguel where Godinez’ 4.6-hectare lot is located.

Atty. Benjamin Militar, the lawyer of the affected residents, however, expressed reluctance to Palmares’ offer, saying his clients are not not mere squatters.

“The acceptance would have been easier if they were mere squatters, but they are soldiers,” Militar told Regional Trial Court Judge Soliver Peras.

Tracking the history of Lot 937, Militar said his clients are qualified to build their houses inside the camp as they are families of soldiers.

Peras, however, pointed out that if the property is indeed part of the camp, the affected residents should not have built their houses there.

“If it’s a part of the camp, then they should not have built there their houses,” Peras said.

Godinez earlier filed a civil case to reclaim the property since 1997 and Palmares said the case has long been final and executory after the CA dismissed the settler’s petition for certiorari for lack of merit.

It was Peras who ordered to suspend the execution of the Writ of Demolition issued by CA after the affected residents filed a petition for a Temporary Restraining Order.

Meanwhile, Mayor Michael Rama has asked the CA for a six-month grace period within which to find a relocation site and to prepare for the orderly transfer of the affected residents.

In accordance with Republic Act 7279 or the Urban Development and Housing Act (UDHA), every Local Government Unit must be able to afford relocation sites to those who qualify as beneficiaries and are affected by demolition.

Former Cebu City Mayor and current South District Rep. Tomas Osmeña, however, was not amenable to Rama’s appeal. He said six months is too short a time.

“We need a lifetime, we don’t need six months. I will fight for it,” Osmeña said.

Both Rama and Osmeña went to the residents’ rescue on the day the eviction order was supposed to be enforced last Monday. — (FREEMAN)