COA still to approve 93-1 land swap deal

MORE than a year ago last December, beneficiaries of the 93-1 lot swap agreement rejoiced after the Cebu City government and the Provincial Capitol signed a deal to trade city-owned properties for these province-owned lots occupied by the city’s urban poor.

Twelve months from the signing of that Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), the beneficiaries continue to await the lots’ turn-over to them.

The Cebu City’s Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) explained that the Commission on Audit (COA) still had to approve the agreement so that the lots can be turned over to beneficiaries of Provincial Ordinance 93-1.

According to DWUP Chief Attorney Miriam Fernandez, all pertinent documents related to the turn-over, such as the deed of donation, were already sent to the COA national offfice. But part of the delay, Fernandez added, was also caused by the long process of appraisal since the land swap agreement involved several government properties.

Cebu City Councilor Raymond Garcia, chairperson of the committee on laws, ordinances and styling, believes there might be a need to change the MOA which allowed the property exchange as this was only approved through a resolution and not an ordinance.

“I think we should ask the mayor where is the land swap deal now because we have been very supportive of his programs if it is for the welfare of the city. If he will ask us to make an ordinance, then the council will make one,” Garcia said in Cebuano.

Garcia said that an ordinance will better protect around 5, 000 families affected by the land swap deal through a valid transfer of the property.

On December 2016, the Cebu City Council, on mass motion, approved a resolution authorizing Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña to sign the land swap deal with the provincial government in order to resolve the 93-1 lot dispute issue.

Under the MOA, signed by Osmeña and Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III on December 7, 2016, the province will give to the city 32 hectares of unsold or unpaid lots under the 93-1 ordinance being occupied by the beneficiaries.

Other lots to be given by the Capitol to the city is the 1.5-hectare lot in the Department of Agriculture compound in Barangay Guadalupe; a 2,358-square meter lot along Gorordo Ave., and another 577-square meter lot on Don Gil Garcia St. in Barangay Capitol Site.

For its part, the city will give to the province the 3.3-hectare block 27 in the North Reclamation Area (NRA), and other NRA lots where the Septage Treatment Plant (13, 711 square meters) and the city’s abattoir ( 2,476 square meters) are located.

The city will also give a 2.5-hectare lot in the South Road Properties (SRP), a 9-hectare lot in Pulpogan, Consolacion and the Cebu City Zoo in Barangay Kalunasan.