Land swap: DOH-7, Cebu City gov’t ink deal

The South Road Properties signage that sits on top of the welcome hill greets motorists as they enter the reclaimed property of the Cebu City government. CDN FILE PHOTO

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The regional office of the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) will be relocating to the South Road Properties (SRP) soon.

This after they formally signed the Deed of Donation with the Cebu City government on Monday, Dec. 16, at the Cebu City Hall, represented by DOH-7 Director Jaime Bernadas and Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia.

The agreement that they have signed has formalized the land-swap deal where a two-hectare land in SRP will be donated to the DOH-7 in exchange with the Cauit Island which is now being occupied by the City Government.

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Previously, when the Cauit Island was not reclaimed, it was originally a property of the Bureau of Quarantine, under the DOH.

Garcia said that when the City reclaimed 295 hectares of land (in the SRP) which included Cauit Island, there was an agreement in previous administrations that the City then would donate land to DOH-7 in exchange of it.

Garcia and Jaime said that it took 11 years before the land swap was formalized.

When asked what could be the reasons why the previous administrations were not able to seal the deal with the DOH, Garcia, said that it would be better to ask the previous mayors.

“Sa side sa Cebu City Government, nanguha man ta’g yuta ngadto sa Cauit Island, ato gyud na bayran through an exchange,” Garcia said.

(On the side of the Cebu City government, we took land from Cauit Island, we should repay that through an exchange.)

The DOH-7 building was almost finished, Bernadas said, and currently the regional blood center was operational there in SRP.

Once the regional office in SRP would be finished, its present location which was along Osmeña Boulevard, would be vacated to serve as an expansion of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC), Bernadas added.

The regional director said that their regional office’s current location was owned by the VSMMC.

Bernadas also said that they had not set a timetable yet as to when they would be going to fully transfer to the SRP, but he emphasized that they would be prioritizing the land title and other necessary documents for the land ownership.