93-1 land swap deal: Osmeña gives Council a week to decide

OSMEÑA

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he will give the City Council one more week to decide on the 93-1 land swap deal.

This developed after the Council referred the issue to the ad hoc committee.

“Well, that is one week. We waited already for how many years because of Mike (Michael) Rama,” he said.

The ad hoc committee was created to decide on the issue.

The committee is composed of Councilors Jose Daluz III, Raymond Garcia, Jocelyn Pesquera, Jerry Guardo and Philip Zafra.

But Osmeña said that should the Council reject the deal, he will pursue with the recall of the Team Rama councilors.

“I am not warning them, it is just a notice. They can recall me also. That is fine,” he said.

Osmeña added that when Rama was then the vice mayor of the city, there was also an ad hoc committee created to decide on the issue. He said the committee was headed by then councilor Edgardo Labella.

He said that Daluz was also a member of the committee and so was Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III when he was still a city councilor.

“They agreed that the land swap is okay. So now they are going to form an ad hoc committee, to me it is a lot of bull,” Osmeña said.

He said the council is just trying to find a way to stop the deal.

“And I am telling them, I won’t be nice anymore and the occupants of 93-1 won’t be nice anymore,” he said.

On December 7, Osmeña signed the memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the long standing 93-1 land swap deal with Davide.

Under the MOA, the city will give a portion if the Block 27, the city’s Septage Treatment Plant, a 2.5-hectare lot in the South Road Properties and the city-owned property in Barangay Pulpogan in Consolacion town in exchange for the province-owned lots located in 11 different barangays in the city.

The province will also give to the city a 1.5-hectare lot located in the Department of Agriculture compound in Barangay Guadalupe, a portion of the province’s property in Barangay Lahug and another property in Barangay Capitol Site.

During their regular session last Tuesday, the two rival camps in the Cebu City Council decided that the MOA between the city and the province will be referred to the council’s ad hoc committee formed for the 93-1 lot dispute resolution.

Osmeña earlier said he was confident that the Team Rama-allied councilors will commit a political suicide if the council will reject the deal.