Capitol wants city lot plus P500-M payment

The provincial government wants a 3.3-hectare property near SM City Cebu on top of the P500 million offered by Cebu City Hall included in the deal to purchase the unpaid province-owned lots in Cebu City covered by Provincial Ordinance 93-1.

The property that was offered in a previous land swap deal between the city and province has a current market value of P1.3 billion, according to the provincial appraisal committee.

“We will willingly accept this property as part of the compensation package, or any piece of land and/or Pond A in the South Road Properties of similar value,” the letter read.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama is adamant on sticking with the lone P500 million offer.

“What we would wish is that’s it. Let’s not change the ball game,” the mayor said.

Unpaid

Rama said the city government will submit its written response to the Cebu provincial government’s counter proposal.

In his letter, Davide said he appreciates the city government’s effort to jointly resolve the 93-1 lot issue.

“The province-owned lots under 93-1 span 51 hectares more or less. Thirty-two (hectares) have been forfeited because these were left unpaid,” he said in a press conference yesterday.

Davide called for a special meeting last Friday, Sept. 14, to arrive at a counter proposal.

The meeting was attended by Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, members of the provincial board, and Capitol’s Real Estate Technical Working Group.

Responsibility

The provincial appraisal committee said the value of the unpaid lots now amounts to P2. 9 billion.

“However, based on the assessment of our [TWG] the most fair and just compensation for these portions of the 93-1 lots that the Cebu City government desires to purchase is P1.8 billion,” Davide wrote in the letter.

Like Cebu City, Davide said the provincial government also has a responsibility to its constituents.

“I hope we can meet halfway—both the province and the city,” he added.

Should there be further negotiations required, the governor said Capitol is ready with a team headed by Vice Governor Magpale.

Resolve

Davide said they have a “plan B, C, and D,” but he remains hopeful that the city government will be receptive to Capitol’s counter-proposal.

He said it will satisfy both governments since they are both firm in their resolve to end the 22-year-old dispute.

“The Cebu City government’s acceptance of the Provincial Government’s counter-proposal would, to our mind, put a closure to the 93-1 issue and leave both our governments satisfied that we have done our best to protect the interest and promote the welfare of our respective constituencies,” Davide concluded in his letter.

Rama refused to disclose the contents of the letter being drafted by Colin Rossell, chief of the Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP), saying he doesn’t want to preempt it since he’s still waiting for it.

But the other day, he already said the city will remain firm in its earlier proposal to the province.

Politics

He said politics should not be considered in the negotiations or else he’ll call it off.

“I don’t want politics to be a part of it. It’s either we forget about discussing if politics will be a part of it, or open up to solve it, remove politics and go back to history,” he said.

Rama is an ally of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) headed by Vice President Jejomar Binay while Davide and Magpale are allies of the administration Liberal Party (LP).

Rama earlier recalled that the agreement they proposed gained support from both the city and the province.

While a land swap was considered during the discussion, he said they already agreed that the city will just pay the equivalent price for the lot they want in the SRP.

Rama said the city even added the city-owned lots in Consolacion town and the cities of Talisay and Mandaue that are used as housing lots to the P500 million offer.