The squatters of the Cebu Provincial Capitol
The Capitol Building was constructed during the term of Governor Sotero Barte Cabahug, the great son of Mandaue. It was finished in 1937 as what is written on its magnificent façade. Written above it is the immortal clause, "The authority of the government emanates from the people." Governor Sotero "Terong" Cabahug is the only Cebuano who occupied various key positions in the country. He was the secretary of National Defense and associate justice of the Court of Appeals. After serving the province as its governor, he was elected board member in 1952 during the governorship of Serging Osmeña.
It is unknown to many that it was Sotero, when he was board member, who conceived the idea of the construction of the Palace of Justice annexed to the Capitol. Decades later, a new Palace of Justice was constructed at the back of the Capitol building during the time of then Secretary of Justice Franklin Drilon. It was evacuated after the October 15, 2013 earthquake. The Palace of Justice which used to house the courts and prosecutors office now abandoned and virtually left to be dilapidated. The condition of the Palace of Justice is a blasphemy being committed by the Supreme Court, the Department of Justice and the Provincial Government for refusing to salvage a heritage.
Governor Cabahug, however, was not the first occupant of the capitol building he constructed it was Governor Buenaventura Rodriguez, the Cebuano poet and playwright. Rodriguez who was about to seek for reelection in 1940 died one day before the election and was replaced by Governor Hilario Abellana (Abellana National School is named after him. He was murdered by the Japanese Imperial Army).
In the early 1950s the Capitol compound was infested with squatters, in a report dated December 4, 1951 the provincial treasurer wrote a letter to the Provincial Board with the following words:
"I have the honor to inform you that the make-shifts buildings constructed on the West and East side of the Capitol Building constitute a nuisance, in our opinion, to the many officials and employees working the Capitol Building. They are indeed sores to the eyes, in and around the Capitol premises most of them are veritable firebrands. The occupants use our lawns for drying rags, corns, and palay, bleaching clothing, grazing for their pigs and goats. Their children destroy our property and the hedges in our lawn. The glass panes of our windows are wantonly destroyed, and quite often big electric bulbs in our gardens were destroyed with slings. They do not keep their premises clean, such that our offices are plagued with flies. If there is anything good that they do, it is that they sell food to our employees, but this they can also do by simply roving a little further away from the place where they are located.
A few of the occupants of these make-shifts buildings are holding leases on this property, but some of them are merely squatters.
It occurs to us that this sore sight and nuisance in and around our Capitol Building and grounds should be eliminated. Action leading to this and is therefore respectfully recommended."
The Provincial Board in its session on January 4, 1952 on motion of Governor Sergio "Serging" Chiong Veloso Osmeña Jr. (at that time the presiding officer of the board was the governor, with two board members):
"RESOLVED that the lease which permitted the construction of the buildings referred to by the Provincial Treasurer in his above-mentioned communication be and is hereby cancelled within thirty days counted from January 5, 1952."
"RESOLVED, FURTHER, to request the District Engineer, as he is hereby requested, to see to it that the aforesaid buildings be removed from the places which they are at present occupying after the expiration of the term fixed therein, for which the occupants should be duly and timely notified by him."
The secretary of the Board at that time was Ariston Cortes (A. C. Cortes St.)
- Latest
