Suspended Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama is asking the legal counsel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to visit Cebu City so they will better understand the need to widen the portion of Gorordo Ave. in front of their church.
“I’m appealing to them to visit Cebu so that they can see the actual scenario in Lahug to be able to understand the whole concept of road widening,” said Rama.
Rama met with lawyer Victor Taylor, the Mormon church’s legal counsel, last week to discuss the setting back of their fence that encroached on the northbound sidewalk of Gorordo Ave.
But Taylor told him that they could not push back their fence because it is “sacred.”
“I do not want to go to court and if they want only (to set back) their back gate, then there is no equal distribution. Both parties have to sit down and have an extensive discussion,” he said.
The road widening is needed to ease traffic congestion in the area.
Ely Tajanlangit, coordinator of Kahayag, told reporters that 12 establishments along these roads voluntarily removed a portion of their respective premises following the city’s order issued in October last year.
Kahayag, which was formed in 2011 under a public-private partnership and through the directive of the city mayor, is tasked to help in the rehabilitation of the sidewalks on Gorordo Ave., Salinas Drive and the road going to Marco Polo Hotel in Barangay Busay.
As of today, Tajanlangit said only the Mormons have not pushed back their fence.
Rama also told members of Kahayag to negotiate with officials of the Central Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to remove the small center island going to Camp Lapu-Lapu at the intersection of Wilson St. and Salinas Drive.