CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Capitol is set to lease a nearly 2,000-square-meter province-owned lot in Barangay Luz, Cebu City to a former high ranking police officer who previously sued the provincial government over the ownership of parcels of land that were included in the Ciudad project.
This is after the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) authorized Governor Gwendolyn Garcia to sign a 10-year contract of lease with Rico Palcuto for a 1,948-square-meter lot for P60,000 per month or for P30.80 per square meter.
The lease contract is renewable for another 10 years with a five percent increase every year after two years into the agreement.
The lease contract stemmed from a compromise agreement entered into by former governor and now Vice Governor Hilario Davide III and Palcuto in 2017, after 11 years of disputing over a lot in Barangay Banilad where the latter built his residence and office on.
“On September 11, 2006, November 15, 2006, and August 8, 2011, the Province of Cebu sent letters demanding for Rico Palcuto to vacate Lot 3-A-1-B but all these letters were ignored,” reads the authority resolution of Board Member John Ismael Borgonia which was passed on Monday, December 16.
In 2011, Palcuto, a former chief of the PNPs Regional Security Unit (RSU), filed a civil case against the province, asking the court to nullify the title of the Province of Cebu.
Palcuto wanted for the lot to be reverted to the Republic of the Philippines so that he can buy it based on the Friar Lands Act.”
Read: City Hall urged to review Capitol’s claim on Ciudad
At the height of the proposed P1.8-billion Ciudad project in 2015, Palcuto asked the Cebu City government in 2015, to “seriously consider” the ownership of the lot where the project will stand before granting any permits or clearance for it.
After six years of legal battle, the Capitol offered Palcuto a compromise in September 2017 where the former policeman will be allowed to rent another Capitol property in Barangay Luz in exchange for that he will no longer impede the province or its personnel from developing the area.
According to Borgonia’s resolution, the Regional Trial Court in Cebu City approved the compromise agreement and incorporated the same in its judgment dated December 21, 2017./dbs