The donation of 4.7 hectares of the area occupied by the Osmeña Shrine to a Protestant Church coalition for use as a private cemetery during the election period is tantamount to vote-buying.
Capitol officials said this in response to last Wednesday’s Cebu City Council hearing on the cemetery project attended by a homeowners group, Rep. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district and Lahug officials.
In yesterday’s press conference, Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia questioned Osmeña’s decision to donate what was once public land to a private group saying it is not a simple matter.
“I would look at it as a very complicated web of a number of missteps, which is made even more complicated by the fact that this happened during the election period and days leading to the election,” the governor said.
Osmeña signed an agreement with the Evangelical Christian Coalition of Cebu Inc. on May 4, 2010, or a week before the May 10, 2010, elections.
“There are a number of issues involved here. First, the issue of donating this piece of property during the prohibited period. There is a ban on such act during a particular time frame (election period),” Garcia said.
By violating this prohibition, the governor said Osmeña may be guilty of an election offense.
“As of now, we are watching with interest,” Garcia said.
Capitol Consultant Rory Jon Sepulveda said Osmeña’s decision “manifests bias in favor of private persons.”
In 1964, the Cebu Provincial Board (PB) authorized then acting governor Priscillano Almendras to donate 210 lots with a total area of 3,880,748 square meters to Cebu City Hall.
When then governor Rene Espina returned from a study leave, he and other towns in Cebu questioned the donation of the lots to Cebu City.
They filed a case in court to nullify the donation made. Named as defendants was then Cebu City mayor Sergio Osmeña Jr.
Some portions of the lot donated by the province were already sold.
The province moved to claim the unsold lots and in 1974, a compromise deal was reached by the provincial and city government.
Under the agreement signed by then Cebu City Mayor Eulogio Borres and former governor Osmundo Rama, the province agreed to pay P1.5 million to the city in exchange for the return of the unused lots.
The Capitol didn’t pursue its claims on donated lots that were already used as parks, shrines and roads-right-of-way and other public improvements.
As much as possible, Sepulveda said the province would keep its hands off the issue.
The only issue is that the city government ought to use the lot (Osmeña Shrine) for public use and not for private consumption, Sepulveda said.
He said donating what ought to be a public lot to a private group during the election period is tantamount to “vote-buying.”
Capitol Legal Officer Marino Martinquilla said donating the property for private use violates the compromise agreement.
“The Osmeña shrine was reserved for parks and playgrounds,” he said.
Martinquilla said the province may reclaim the lot due to the violation of the agreement.
A portion of Osmeña Shrine is now used as nursery for the Parks and Playgrounds Commission.
On another corner are iron fences, barb wires, electric wires and posts and other items taken from old Plaza Indepedencia.
A nursery for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is on the far end of the seven-hectare compound.
All of them are guarded by Barangay Intelligence Network (BIN) members.
BIN member Lucille Gabutan said when the shrine is converted into a cemetery, the nursery and the temporary stockyard will be relocated to another area.
The Osmeña Shrine in barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City consist mostly of slopes, which lead to a river.
Residents of the Villa Remedious Homeowners Association opposed the project, saying the cemetery may contaminate the water supply.
Streamers that bore messages like “We are against the conversion of the Osmeña Shrine into a cemetery,” “Keep the forest reserve, not cemetery” and “Di kami mosugot nga dunay menteryo sa among lugar (We won’t agree to a cemetery in our place)” hang on the main entrance of the village.
Rep. Osmeña said there’s nothing wrong with building a cemetery in barangay Kalunasan, one of the city’s hilly and less populated barangays.
He said its location meant that the area is well drained and forested.
“If there is any seepage (from the cemetery), the trees can consume the leachate,” he said.
Osmeña said he is prepared to fund construction of water purification plants in neighboring deep wells to quell the fears of residents of water contamination.
City Planning and Development Officer Alipio Bacalso said the group need only secure a locational clearance to build a cemetery.
Lahug councilor Mary Ann delos Santos called on the Cebu City Council to resolve the boundary dispute on the shrine before allowing the construction of a cemetery in the area.
Delos Santos, who called for the revocation of the donation, said barangay Lahug has jurisdiction on the shrine based on the city map and the barangay Lahug map. With Correspondents Carmel Loise Matus and Edison delos Angeles