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CEBU
CITY—Officials from the Cebu City and Cebu provincial
governments said Wednesday the stalled land-swap deal,
which could affect 5,000 urban- poor families and some
50 hectares of prime commercial properties, could still
push through if only Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Gov.
Gwendolyn Garcia start talking again.
Officials of the province went to the Cebu City Council
Wednesday to oppose a proposed ordinance rezoning
provincial lots inside Cebu City into socialized Housing
Zones.
Provincial Board Member Juan Bolo told city councilors
that the proposed ordinance would only intensify the
friction between the two local government units. He
instead raised that the land-swap deal be revived.
“That
(ordinance) will not solve the problem. Our focus now
must be to bring together the two chief executives so
they start talking for the benefit of thousands of
Cebuanos,” he said.
“The
initiative should start from the executives. We
legislators can start discussing the details to smoothen
the way but the final decision is still up to the mayor
and the governor,” Bolo said.
The
provincial government, hoping to raise revenues, is
trying to recover some 250 hectares of prime property
inside Cebu City and develop these through partnerships
with the private sector.
Fifty
hectares of the property is occupied by urban poor
dwellers—Cebu City residents and voters—while the rest
are occupied by government agencies and the Armed
Forces.
The city
and the province tried last year to enter into a
land-swap deal where the provincial government gives up
the occupied lots in exchange for vacant city owned
properties at the north reclamation area.
Talks
collapsed when the parties pushed for a value-for-value
exchange while presenting different appraisals for each
of their properties. The collapse of the talks led to a
public quarrel between the two chief executives.
The
governor’s spokesman and consultant Rory John Sepulveda
told BusinessMirror that the doors for a settlement are
still open.
“We
never said that the door is closed. The ball is still in
play and I think the players are all here ready to try
play a clean and honest game,” he said. “The biggest
challenge for all of us is on how we deal with the
details.”
Vice
Mayor Michael Rama welcomed the gesture of Bolo and
Sepulveda during the council session and said steps must
be taken to smoothen the way for a reopening of
discussion over the deal and the reconciliation of the
mayor and the governor. |
