Cebu City mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia and MCWD General Manager Edgar Donoso signed a compromise and lease agreement for the use of the MCWD-owned building across the City Hall. | Photo from Cebu City PIO
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City government and the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) have finally ended the dispute over the use of the City Hall satellite office owned by the latter.
On Monday, Cebu City mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia and MCWD General Manager Edgar Donoso, signed the compromise and lease agreement that would allow the City Hall to resume its use of the satellite office which was located across the City Hall.
According to the city’s information office, the city government and MCWD have agreed that the City Hall shall continue to use the second floor of the ‘annex building’ while the MCWD will occupy the ground floor.
Moreover, the agreement also waived the city’s unpaid rental fees since its occupation of the annex building in November 2022 because it said that the improvements made by the city government on the ground floor were considered as ‘full payment of the rentals.’
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A copy of the agreement was shared to the members of the media on the same day.
There are at least 11 offices that are occupying the satellite office which include City Agriculture Office, Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office, Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor, Bantay Dagat Commission, and the City Hospitalization Assistance and Medicines Program.
It was also reported that the city government would be charged by the MCWD for P419,067.03 for the monthly rent in using the second floor which covers at least 2,001 square meters, and the contract would also be renewed annually.
The MCWD has also given the City Hall 60 days to vacate the ground floor as well as the removal of the signage at the second floor that bore the phrase, “Cebu City Hall Satellite Office.”
“Because diplomacy works we are able to come up with an agreement to lease the building of the MCWD annex building. I hope this will end all mga (all the) animosities between MC(WD) and Cebu City as to the lease of that particular area,” Garcia said.