Apas settlers ask Ombud-Visayas aid against demolition
ABOUT 22 settlers in Sitio San Miguel, Barangay Apas, Cebu City asked the Ombudsman-Visayas for help in stopping the demolition of their homes in lots 942 and 947 that were subject to court litigation.
They filed an administrative complaint against the Cebu Provincial Legal Officer for not asserting the provincial government’s ownership of Lots 942 and 947 in Sitio San Miguel in Barangay Apas.
Lots 942 and 947, which cover an area of 9,753 square meters, were part of the friar lands in the cities of Cebu and Mandaue and were later on purchased by the provincial government through an executive order.
The lots were also expropriated by the Lahug Airport Authority before to form part of the Lahug Airport but it didn’t push through.
The lots were supposedly occupied by the settlers even before it was expropriated for the airport as early as 1976.
But later on, a woman named Aletha Suico-Magat and her siblings claimed ownership of the two lots as an inheritance from their late father.
In 1957, the family filed a petition in court for the lost title and the court approved it since there was no opposition.
The settlers said the matter was brought to the provincial government’s attention but they failed to act on it.
Cebu Daily News tried but was unable to contact Provincial Legal Officer Orvi Ortega for the province’s side on the issue.
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