City gov’t losing parts of Guba lot

The Cebu city government may be losing its grip on a 29-hectare lot in the mountain barangay of Guba where farmer-tenants are laying claim to the property.

The land was bought in 1997 for P11.5 million by the city, which is using part of the area as a cemetery for Muslims and a new communal forest project.

“The Guba property is almost all gone because it’s not titled in the name of Cebu City,” Councilor Nida Cabrera told Cebu Daily News

Cabrera said that 10 hectares in sitio Catives II was previously awarded to farmer-tenants by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).

Another group of farmers is seeking exclusive use of part of the lot while another two hectares have been donated to the Office of the Muslim Affairs in Central Visayas for use as a Muslim cemetery.

Cabrera said she found out about that the Catives II lot was not titled in the name of Cebu City after she started a communal forest program in six hectares of the 29-hectare lot .

Under the program, the city is tapping help of companies under their corporate social responsibility to plant trees.

They also buy compost from barangays who operate their Materials Recovery Facility.

Cabrera is asking the city legal office to hasten the city’s application for a title with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

The forest program, which she started in April 22, 2011, is located below the Muslim cemetery lot.

Under the program, the city is tapping the help of companies under their corporate social responsibility.

She asked city lawyers to attend a meeting with DAR and Catives farmers scheduled on Monday to get data especially on which portion of the property is being claimed.

Cabrera said Cebu City only holds the tax declaration and deed of sale for the P11.5-million lot, which former mayor Alvin Garcia bought from the late Cambinocot barangay captain Eliseo Cosido

The barangay captain shot himself dead in February 1999, a suicide believed linked to a controversy over the status of the land, which lies in a watershed and is not subject to private ownership.

The Commission on Audit (COA) had questioned the Cebu City officials’ move to buy the lot, which is covered by the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act.

The City Council has requested the City Legal Office to look into the status of sitio Catives II lot.

But city lawyer Eleodoro Diaz said the office had no documents on the lot purchase and was not in a position to comment on the matter.

Diaz also recommended in his Nov. 9 letter to the City Council to let the Government Services Office (GSO) check with the DENR and Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CCENRO) when the lot’s declaration as a protected area was made.

He also asked for a copy of the COA notice of disallowance and documents from DENR and CCENRO, which declared the Catives lot a protected area.