The Mandaue City government yesterday pressed on with its offensive against its counterpart in Cebu City, this time releasing a laundry list of violations of the controversial abattoir in barangay Subangdaku.
Giovanni Y. Tianero, the city legal officer of Mandaue City, yesterday sent a letter to Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama informing him of the findings of the Enforcement Unit of Mandaue City’s Solid Waste Management Office and the City Health Office that jointly inspected the slaughterhouse.
Among the violations listed down by Mandaue inspectors are:
(1) The unsanitary conditions in the property;
(2) Absence of a water treatment facility;
(3) Open dumping of cattle fat and hair in front of the slaughterhouse building, producing leachate that goes directly to the open canal;
(4) Absence of a Mayor’s Permit and Sanitary Permit, and
(5) Absence of health cards for abattoir personnel.
Tianero said waste water from the slaughterhouse flows to the open canal which empties directly to the Mahiga Creek.
“This has been ongoing for more than a year,” he said.
Rama in earlier pronouncements pinned the blame on the flooding in Cebu City to the siltation in the Mahiga Creek as well as the encroachment of informal settlers and illegal structures on the waterway’s easement zone.
This apparently irked Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes prompting City Hall to pull all the stops and tighten the noose on its neighboring LGU.
Mandaue City attorney Tianero, in his letter, told Rama to “secure the appropriate… permits” and “to comply with existing Laws and Ordinances of Mandaue City.
He also reminded the mayor to “please undertake corrective actions and remedy the … findings”.
A separate letter which Tianero also signed and addressed to Rama, asked the Cebu City government to present disbursement vouchers, building permits and other supporting documents relating to the construction of the concrete bridge that leads to the city slaughterhouse that would prove the legality of the bridge’s construction.
Copies of the two letters which Cebu Daily News obtained yesterday were received at the mayor’s office at the Cebu City hall at 1:34 p.m. or about half an hour after it was transmitted to the office of Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes.
“They (Cebu City) have to secure Mayor’s Permit, Sanitary permit, sa fire kay gikinahanglan man na. Also they have to abide with Mandaue Ordinances. Bisan ug sila’y tag-iya sa luna naa’y titulo but again the lot naa sulod sa dakbayan sa Mandaue (Even if they own the property and they have a title to prove their ownership, the lot is still within our territorial jurisdiction),” Mayor Cortes said in a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
The neighboring city governments have been at odds over the unpaid taxes due from the operation of the Cebu City-owned slaughterhouse and the North Bus Terminal. Both facilities are located in barangay Subangdaku.
Mandaue City is also taking issue over the legality of the construction of a concrete bridge which leads to the slaughterhouse.
The Mandaue City Engineering Office said the structure was illegally constructed.
Cortes said he was ready to discuss the issues with Cebu City officials, but said he’s only willing to sit down with Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella.
He did not elaborate why he doesn’t want to speak with Mayor Rama.
Labella in a separate interview also said he was ready to talk with Mayor Cortes whom he said had called him Wednesday night.
On the taxation issue, Mandaue City Treasurer Regal Oliva told CDN in a text message that Cebu City Administrator Lucelle Mercado had already set an appointment with him.
“The City administrator of Cebu already set an appointment with me upon my arrival next week. They said they have readied all documents to prove exemption. Our action will depend on the acceptability of the presented documents,” he said.
Oliva is on an official trip to Manila and will be back in Cebu on Monday. /with reports from Santino Bunachita
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