Capitol sells lot lower than appraised value

CEBU, Philippines - The province-owned lot in Barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City sold by the Capitol at P10 per square meter was appraised by its own appraisal committee at P3,273 per square meter and has zonal valuation of P1,700 per square meter.

Members of Actual Occupants and Residents OPRRA Kalunasan, Inc. (AOROK) also offered to buy the lot they occupy at P1,700 per square meter.

In fact, OAROK entered into a memorandum of agreement with then Cebu governor Gwendolyn Garcia on September 10, 2012 to purchase the lot at the price pegged by the Capitol’s appraisal committee.

The agreement did not materialize when Garcia was suspended for six months on December 17, 2012 and returned to office on June 19, 2013, days before her final term ended on June 30.

On July 5, 2013, AOROK, Inc. Board of Trustees asked Governor Hilario Davide III to adjust the price to P1,700 per square meter in accordance with the price estimate of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Cebu City Assessor’s Office.

However, the request remained unanswered until news broke out that Davide III signed a deed of absolute sale for a total of 1,464 square meter of land to the 12 beneficiaries of the Old Philippines Railways Residents Association Inc. (OPRRA, Inc.) on November 16, 2015.

Led by its president, Ernesto Dacay and legal consultant former City Prosecutor Sinforoso Buenviaje, AOROK, Inc. has questioned the Capitol’s granting of deed of absolute sale, saying the sales agreement with the Province of Cebu was already terminated.

 On November 18, 2015, AOROK, Inc. sent a joint letter/manifestation to Davide and the members of the Provincial Board but was not answered.

 Capitol consultant and former real estate section chief Paul Entera said the lot had already been fully paid by the beneficiaries long before the Sales Agreement in 1971 was terminated in 2012.

 Last January 31, Dacay and Buenviaje again asked for an official reply from Davide and the Provincial Board.

 They also requested that the grant of deed of absolute sale to the 12 beneficiaries shall be considered null and void.

“We believed that the Legal Wrong committed in the legal history of the Province of Cebu in selling or disposing its real properties to unworthy and disqualified vendees at unrealistic price of ten pesos per square meter pursuant to a terminated or revoked Sales Agreement of 1971 between the Province of Cebu and OPRRA, Inc. was erroneous and without legal basis,” read the letter.

 The letter dated January 31 is addressed to Provincial Administrator Mark Tolentino, Vice Governor Agnes Magpale and all PB members.  (FREEMAN)