REACTING to the criticism from Councilor Pastor “Jun” Alcover, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña clarified that the city government remains to be the sole owner of Osmeña Shrine in Barangay Kalunasan.
Osmeña admitted that there was a plan to donate the 4.2-hectare Osmeña Shrine to an inter-faith group but no transfer of title was made.
“It was not really transferred. The title is still under us,” said Osmeña.
Last October 11, the city government, through the Prevention Restoration Order Beautification and Enhancement (Probe) team, conducted the demolition of 300 illegal structures in the area.
But Alcover intervened and questioned the demolition. He said the city government cannot order the demolition since it does not own the lot.
Alcover, a member of the city council’s committee on housing, said the demolition was illegal since probe had a clearing order only from the mayor.
The city donated the property to Evangelical Christian Coalition of Cebu Inc. (ECCCI) to develop the area into a cemetery, a project which didn’t push through due to opposition from nearby residents.
Osmeña said the city will keep the Osmeña Shrine and that he will not push through with the donation of the lot to the inter-faith group.
Meanwhile, Osmeña said he would not negotiate with the illegal settlers, who asked him to provide a relocation site after their houses were demolished last Tuesday.
Osmeña said he does not want to negotiate with “liars.”
“I don’t want to deal with liars. They said I authorized them to move in there. But how can I authorize them when I was not the mayor when they moved in the shrine,” the mayor said.
Instead of dealing with the settlers, he said he will just concentrate on other things.
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