70 HOAs gather to tackle lot concerns in Cebu City

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu City’s housing summit finally pushed through with various homeowners from different associations in attendance, hoping to finally settle concerns involving their lots, particularly those identified as Capitol-owned properties.

Close to 70 officials from different homeowners, especially those with some lot issues and concern, gathered at the Community Hall of the Cebu City Hall last Saturday.

The gathering was done to tackle the processes involving lot acquisition, lot titles, and other concerns involving properties.

The City’s News and Information team reported that lot prices now range from P15,000 to P40,000 per square meter.

With this, the Cebu City government stressed on the importance of the gathering so homeowner associations would be guided accordingly on what to do regarding property issues.

Aside from that, the summit aimed to come up with an agreement with the Cebu Provincial government concerning their properties.

During the pre-summit discussions, the office of Acting Mayor Raymond Garcia noted that urbanization and the growing economy of Cebu City has, over the last few decades, significantly changed the city’s landscape.

Amidst more development and economic growth though, it has also placed great stress on public housing.

The Cebu City Government saw the need for better settlement opportunities and established a housing program administered by the Local Housing Board (LHB) and implemented by the Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) while also creating the Committee on Housing at the Sangguniang Panlungsod for legislative measures.

There are two prevailing frameworks identified, stakeholder-initiated and city-initiated.