Apas neighbors also face uncertain fate

Several homes in two lots in sitio San Miguel, barangay Apas now lie in ruins following the court-ordered demolition. (CDN Photo/Tonee Despojo)

Settlers living near the lots where homes are being demolished in sitio San Miguel, barangay Apas are also asking Cebu City Hall’s assistance to save their houses from a similar fate.

At City Hall’s command post near the demolition site, officials of homeowners associations showed documents to reporters about their court battles to save their homes in lots 943 to 946.

These lots are near Lots 942 and 947 where several homes are being dismantled based on a court order.

The families are afraid that the ongoing demolition may soon include them.

Demolition in Lots 942 and 947 was suspended following an order from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) which found that a minor was employed in the demolition.
Injunction

Over a hundred houses from lots 942 to 946 were threatened with demolition after people who claimed to be owners of the lots filed an ejectment case against them in 2011.

The settlers lost the case at the lower Metropolitan Trial Court in Cities but they have a pending case of injunction filed in a Regional Trial Court.

“We want to establish that Richard Unchuan is really interested in this area in sitio San Miguel,” Apas barangay chairman Ramil Ayuman said.

Ayuman said Unchuan, a businessman, has been looking for legal loopholes so he can claim ownership and get rid of the residents in the area.

Unchuan said he now owns three of the four neighboring lots except for Lot 946.

Real owner

“I bought the land from five of the six heirs of the Lopezes who owned those lots,” he said.

Unchuan said the owner of the lots is a certain Generoso Lopez from whose heirs he bought the three lots. But the residents said Lopez is not the owner of the lots.

Rosalinda Leogan, president of the Ark Angel Unified Association of homeowners in the disputed lots, said the property belongs to a certain Quintin Vercide.

They showed papers from the City Environment and Natural Resources Office which shows that Vercide, although spelled “Velcide” in the documents is the real owner.

Expropriated

In a phone interview, Unchuan said Lopez already bought the rights and interest of the lots from Vercide in the 50s.

Unchuan said Vercide’s lots were expropriated for the then Lahug airport expansion project.

But when it didn’t push through, Lopez helped in recovering the lots for Vercide. Later on, the two agreed to sell the property to Lopez.

Unchuan said he has documents to prove the sale from Vercide to Lopez and eventually to him.

Ayuman and the residents said yesterday they will ask City Hall’s Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) to help convince Vercide, who they still believe to be the owner, to sell the lots to the residents instead.

“We are afraid that Unchuan may go after us again knowing that the demolition in lots 942 and 947 started,” Leogan said.

But Unchuan said he doesn’t have anything to do with the ongoing demolition of the two lots claimed by Aletha Suico-Magat.