Gwen to review donation of shrine land
Gov. Gwen Garcia yesterday said she would review donation papers of the 4.2-hectare lot in barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City where plans for a new cemetery have drawn flak for the city government.
She listened to over a thousand residents of Beverly Glenn and Beverly Hills, Kalunasan and Lahug, who gathered at the Capitol Social Hall to air their fears of water contamination, flooding and health hazards posed by the plan of the Cebu city government to convert the Osmeña Shrine into a multi-faith cemetery.
“I am not scared of the dead, of ghosts,” said Merlina Campbell of Beverly Glenn subdivision.
“But if the trees are cut down and it rains, there will surely be flooding.”
Jose Gapas, president of the Beverly Hills Homeowners Association, said residents need the tree cover in the mini-park for “longer life”.
Residents asked the Province of Cebu to intervene as the original owner of the land donated in 1965 for a hilltop shrine named after the late president Sergio Osmena Sr., a lot which was never fully developed.
The governor said she doubted the legality of its subsequent donation to the Evangelical Christian Coalition of Cebu Inc.
The donation, made through the intercession of then Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, came barely a week before the May 2010 election.
The Osmeña Shrine is among 210 parcels of lands which the provincial government donated to Cebu City in 1965 “to help out in the expenses for the 4th Centennial Celebration of Cebu”, said Garcia.
Reading a document from the National Archives, Garcia said that based on the Deed of Donation, “the donation and later sale of the lots is for the exclusive purpose of paying the existing obligations of the City of Cebu for the lots for parks, roads, rights of way, construction of parks, improving roads and bridges.”
The deed required the Municipal Council of Cebu to seek written consent from the Cebu Provincial Board if the lots are to be used for other purposes.
It also required the return to capitol of lots what were left undisposed after Aug. 15, 1965. Reporter Dale G. Israel
