Tomas: ‘Where is Godinez? Apas lot sold?’

AFTER the lawyer of the contested Apas lot offered P17 million to residents fighting a court-ordered demolition, Cebu City south district Rep. Tomas Osmeña wondered out loud: Where is the lot owner?

“Where is Mariano Godinez? Nobody has seen him in the past six years, he has not signed any document,” Osmeña said in a press conference held in his Guadalupe residence.

“If Godinez is already dead, this would prove my suspicion that a group is behind the Apas lot case,” Osmeña added.

Godinez’s lawyer Roberto Palmares made the financial offer to the affected residents last Tuesday.

Osmeña also said that he suspects that the sale of the 4.5-hectare lot in sitio San Miguel in barangay Apas is already a done deal.

Osmeña said Apas residents should not succumb to Palmares’ offer.  “They should continue to fight their case in court,” the lawmaker said.

To pursue his point, Osmeña said he will go to the Solicitor General to clarify concerns that the property may have even been bought and owned by the government already.

Osmeña said there is  a law that allows occupants to acquire the properties that have been occupied for the last 10 years.

“I am trying to make representations with the SolGen to help in this case,” he said.

A total 168 households are facing a court-ordered demolition in this protracted land dispute.