Osmeña: Check on the homeowners instead

LEASING ORDINANCE

Requiring renters to submit police clearances would put a big burden on them, who compose a third of the city’s population, said Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña.

“I really pity the people. It’s anti-poor. It’s very anti-poor. Renters cannot afford to buy a house. Nganong mupili sila sa mga renters? (Why do they have to be selective in choosing the renters?)” he said.

According to the mayor, there are about 300,000 Cebu City residents who are renting bed spaces, apartments or houses.

“These people have to go to Robinsons and line-up. 300,000 (of them) To get a police clearance, To get a NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) clearance. It takes month to process them. So here’s a poor guy, and sorry you cannot sleep because you need a police clearance,” said Osmeña.

The Cebu City Police Office earlier asked local government units to enact an ordinance to regulate space or apartment leasing, as a means to prevent tenants from using it for criminal purposes.

But for Osmeña, the burden should not be placed on those looking for temporary shelters.

“Why don’t they pick out the house owners? But they have to get police clearance also. You know, the drug pushers and drug lords are the ones who can afford to buy a house,” he added.

Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak, Deputy Mayor on Police Matters, earlier expressed reservations on passing an ordinance that would regulate apartment leasing and said it should be the landlords who should take the initiative of monitoring their tenants.

CCPO’s biggest drug haul this year were made inside rented apartments.

Last December 1, police confiscated P41.8 million worth of shabu (crystal meth) inside an apartment along Urgello Street in Barangay Sambag II, Cebu City.

Two weeks earlier, they also found P39-million worth of shabu in another apartment unit in Barangay Tisa, which investigators believed was being used as a base of operation of another drug group.