Osmeña asks Binay to step into 93-1 issue

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City south district Rep. Tomas Osmeña has asked Vice President Jejomar Binay, who hairs the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, to step into the problem on the implementation of the controversial Provincial Ordinance 93-1.

The former city mayor also asked the vice president to direct the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board to investigate and take appropriate action with regards to the issuance of Deeds of Sale and the land titles by the provincial government.

Close to 5,000 city residents living in province-owned lots in barangays Apas, Luz, Busay, Mabolo, Lorega, Camputhaw, Lahug, Capitol Site and Kalunasan are under threat of losing their homes for failing to pay for the lots even if the Capitol has already extended deadline given to them.

The occupants were given three grace periods to settle their accounts as approved during the term of then Governor Vicente dela Serna.   It was dela Serna who approved Resolution no. 239-93, more known as 93-1.

With the occupants’ failure to settle their accounts on time, the provincial government extended the deadline from January 1994 to 1999 and later extended it to 2004.

 After 2004, majority of the occupants appealed for another extension to Garcia, who, in response, turned them down after those who had fully paid their accounts approached her and said that extending the deadline is already unfair to them.

 In his letter to Binay, Osmeña said that even those who have fully paid have not yet received their Deeds of Sale. He cited there are 1, 467 who have made full payments but only around 360 have been issued their Transfer Certificate of Title.

 “More than 800 of those who have made full payments have not even been issued Deed of Sale. The said sales were covered by Licenses to Sell issued by the HLURB,” Osmeña explained.

 He wants the HLURB to take action, saying “you strongly share our conviction that security of tenure is a basic human right that we must all respect.”

Separately, Cebu City Councilor Alvin Dizon said they are preparing for their positions when the provincial government is ready for renegotiations.

Earlier, the province said it has yet to create a committee that will decide on how to go about the issue. Capitol spokesperson Rory Jon Sepulveda said both parties can expect “substantial results in the coming days.”

Garcia has already issued Executive Order No. 3, in 2007, for the creation of Cebu Provincial Review Committee that will determine the status of the parcels of lands covered by Ordinance 93-1 including the status and qualification of the actual occupants.

Since the creation of the committee, Garcia suspended the eviction of occupants on lots covered by the ordinance to create an “atmosphere of good faith” while the province negotiates with 2,725 affected families.

 The moratorium freezes indefinitely the notices of eviction sent to the occupants who failed to pay for their lots before the September 2004 deadline.

Garcia admitted that there is a need to discuss further the issues involving the families who are occupying the lots owned by the province. (THE FREEMAN)