Rama says P500M set aside for 93-1 occupants

JOJO ALL THE WAY. Vice President Jejomar Binay gets a kiss on the cheek from one of his supporters during his walk at the Senior Citizens Park.
(CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said the city government will allocate P500 million in the city’s proposed P18.9 billion 2015 annual budget to help occupants of province-owned lots under Provincial Ordinance 93-1.

“This will be a buffer amount that would be a part of the solution,” Rama told reporters after he and Vice President Jejomar Binay walked through some of the city’s downtown public markets last Friday.

Rama said he informed Binay and Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III about the proposed amount.  He said the city’s representatives will sit down again with the province to resolve the issue.

Since 2011, Rama and then Cebu governor Gwendolyn Garcia asked Binay’s help owing to his position as Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) head.

“The ball is not with us it’s with the province. We in the city government, have always been telling the rest that we will always be there to be a part of the solution,” Rama said.

In earlier interviews, Binay expressed concerns on the slow resolution of the 93-1 lot issue.  He said it should have been resolved quicker.

Guidelines
Binay also heads the Social Housing Finance Corp. and the Pag-Ibig Fund.

Provincial Ordinance 93-1, which was passed in 1993, allowed occupants of province-owned lots in Cebu City to buy the land they have been occupying for years.  But until now, not even half of the occupants paid for the lots.

Governor Davide said a technical working committee is talking with homeowners associations over the lots in order to come up with guidelines in resolving the issue.

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