City Hall, Capitol move closer to deal

The Capitol and City Hall have “agreed in principle” on the terms to resolve issues over the Ordinance 93-1 lots in Cebu City.

Provincial Legal Officer Orvi Ortega said the technical working group (TWG) of the Cebu city government did not oppose the province’s counteroffer in two meetings already.

With  no counteroffer from the city, he said he believes there have reached  an “agreement in principle.”

He said the two groups, with Gov. Hilario Davide III and  Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, last met at the end of November.

Ortega said both sides are  finalizing terms of reference for a  draft memorandum of agreement.

Once terms are finalized, these will be presented to the two leaders for signing.

The Capitol earlier announced that it wanted a 3.3-hectare property near SM City Cebu on top of the P500 million offered by City Hall to be included in the deal to purchase unpaid province-owned lots in Cebu City covered by Provincial Ordinance 93-1.

According to the provincial appraisal committee, the property, which was already offered in a previous land swap deal between the two local government units, has a current market value of P1.3 billion.

Ortega said  city representatives offered a lot with similar value in the South Road Properties (SRP) instead.

He said he couldn’t divulge which property in the SRP was offered by the city.

The province-owned lots under Ordinance 93-1 span  51 hectares across 11 barangays in Cebu City, mostly occupied by settlers who were given a chance to buy them by installment at a deadline several years ago.

Around  32 hectares  have been forfeited because these were left unpaid.

Will Mayor Michael Rama’s suspension affect the  resolution of the issue?

“We can’t say that there will be since the suspension is only temporary. He will be back after two months,” said Ortega.

However, he said the problem would  arise if the  resolution of the negations would be further delayed.

For the Capitol,  he said the governor  has no problem getting approval of  the Provincial Board.

“The (PB) would give the authorization to the governor because the legislative branch of the province is also involved,” he said.

He said he can’t  speak for the Cebu City Council,  whose majority is allied with the opposition—Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) party.

With Mayor Rama out of the picture for two months, he said he wonders how the issue can be resolved on the city’s side even with acting Mayor Edgardo Labella in charge.

Otega said that the Capitol never gave the city government an ultimatum.

Governor Davide earlier said that if negotiations with the city failed, the provincial government had a “plan B, C, and D.”

“We will assess as time passes. At the moment, we are just giving leeway to the TWGs to finalize the draft for the MOA,” said Ortega.