Capitol officials to announce ‘solution’ to 93-1 lot dispute

The Cebu provincial government has come up with an option to resolve the  long-running dispute over provincial lots sold to occupants under Ordinance 93-1.

But Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III said he would  reveal it on  Monday after  informing the Cebu City government.

“I don’t want them to be caught off-guard. Mas maayo nga moagi og formal communication,” he told reporters.

Davide attended a workshop with members of the Provincial Board (PB) and the technical working group yesterday.

The workshop was aimed at solicitng ideas to address the lot ownership  issue in Cebu City  which has  bedeviled  terms of previous  governors from  Vicente de la Serna to Pablo and Gwen Garcia.

Davide said he would write to  Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama about the provincial government’s stand.

Among the options at hand  were the P500-million offer of the Cebu city government to purchase the lots or a land-swap deal.

PB Member Alex Binghay, however, hinted that the Capitol’s counter-offer has “improvements” from that of City Hall’s.

Earlier this week, PB Member Gigi Sanchez said the city government’s offer for the purchase of remaining unpaid lots is not enough.

The lots are spread across 11 barangays in Cebu City. While the provincial government pegged the value of the properties at P2 billion, this was not what they were asking from the city.

The appraisal refers to the value of the land which is 51 hectares subdivided into 4,364 home lots based on the agreement between the  city and province.

Sanchez said she was not inclined to a land-swap deal.

In 2006, City Hall proposed a land swap where a city-owned lot will be swapped with the 93-1 properties, but negotiations went into a deadlock.

Governor Davide, last week, decided to conduct a workshop to discuss the issue so everyone concerned can contribute their ideas on the matter.