VP aid sought on 93-1 dispute

CEBU City Hall and the Capitol reportedly sought the intercession of the  Office of the Vice President to help resolve the protracted lot dispute involving occupants of the properties covered by the Provincial Ordinance 93-1.

Vice President Jejomar Binay said he was asked by Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia and Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama to come in as as chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC).

“If the local leaders would help each other and lessen the intrigues, the problems would be solved,” Binay told reporters  after attending the 50th charter day in Danao town, Bohol yesterday.

Last July 7, Binay gathered the lot occupants and government officials covered by Presidential Proclamation (PP) 409 and Provincial Ordinance 93-1 to listen to their concerns and suggestions on how to solve the problem.

But Binay gave no specific solutions for the land dispute between the Capitol and Cebu City affecting over 5,000 families occupying government-owned lots.

He said they still need input from stakeholders  to find  a  “win-win” solution.

When asked if the conflict between local leaders was factor in the delay , Binay just laughed and said,” We will help them solve their problems.”

During his visit in Cebu, Binay appealed to urban poor settlers to reach a “happy compromise” with the province, which owns the land.

The occupants who had yet to settle their obligations said they wanted to buy the land at the 1993 level of less than P1,000 per square meter.

The beneficiaries repeated their proposal that they be allowed to continue paying by installment for the land even at six percent interest a year.

Out of 5,000 urban poor households occupying lots covered by Provincial Ordinance 93-1, 1,410 already paid their obligations in full to the Capitol.

Another 1,214 made partial payments. The Capitol suspended disposing of the lots when a 2004 deadline ended, and refused to accept payments from buyers.

Meanwhile two proposed ordinances aimed at providing benefits to housing beneficiaries are under study by the Cebu City Council.

The first is intended to grant transfer tax exemptions to housing beneficiaries who already paid their amortizations in full.

Councilor Alvin Dizon said this ordinance will assure Cebuanos of security of tenure.

“The city government gave transfer tax exemptions to fully paid socialized housing beneficiaries over the past few years but they have yet to pass an ordinance for this,”  the ordinance read.

Dizon said tax exemption should be granted after the beneficiary procures a certificate of full payment from the City Treasurers Office and a certificate affirming his or her status as beneficiary from the Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP).

Cebu City now has four socialized housing programs.

These are the city-owned rehabilitation of estates, city housing and acquisition of privately-owned lots, acquisition and disposition of relocation sites and the community mortgage program.

Dizon said the City Council can grant property owners exemptions from payment of transfer taxes, incentives and other reliefs.

He said the proposed ordinance will benefit thousands of housing beneficiaries.

Another ordinance would give owners of delinquent real properties confiscated by the city government a second chance to redeem their properties.

The draft ordinance stated that the one-year period for reclaiming property is insufficient since the owners still continue to occupy their lots.

Felizardo delos Angeles, head of the city’s real property division, said the city government already sold P4 million out of P143 million worth of confiscated properties in a public auction held last May 27. Reporter Candeze R. Mongaya and Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac