Clearing operations resumed yesterday to remove structures inside the Doña Pepang Cemetery in barangay Tejero, Cebu City.
There are 32 remaining structures to cleared by November 1.
Wendell Cenas, Prevention Restoration Orderly Beautification Enhancement (PROBE) officer-in-charge, said they dismantled eight out of nine structures located in front of the cemetery.
Former mayor Tomas Osmeña visited the area yesterday while the clearing operation was ongoing.
Osmeña said he promised the residents that he would continue to challenge the legality of the demolition in court even though he had lost the initial legal battle.
Osmeña criticized Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella for requesting to hold off the demolition of century old houses in barangay Mabolo but allowing the demolition of several houses occupied by many.
“Unsa iyang priority, ang mga tao or ang balay?” he said. (What is his priority, the people or houses?)
Labella is the acting mayor as Mayor Michael Rama is in Indonesia for a speaking engagement.
Tejero barangay councilor Garry Lao said the Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) aims to finish the clearing of all structures in Dona Pepang cemetery by November 1.
DWUP also promised relocation of affected residents in barangay Lorega but there are still issues that need to be resolved.
Barangay Lorega officials passed a resolution insisting that they will not accommodate affected residents of the Doña Pepang demolition unless all Lorega residents who were victims of fire last year will be given a relocation site.
Lao said the resolution makes the transfer of the settlers from Doña Pepang uncertain.
“The barangay is willing to help if DWUP will coordinate with us just like in previous projects such as the widening of our barangay road,” he said.
The cemetery is named after the late wife of former president Sergio Osmeña Sr., Estefania Chiong Veloso, who owned vast landholdings in Cebu City.
Rama had structures in the cemetery cleared to make way for a planned public park but will leave the Osmeña Mausoleum intact. The mausoleum is the resting place of former President Osmeña and his son Sergio “Serging” Osmeña Jr. the first elected mayor of Cebu City.
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