Return Apas lot to Capitol, Gwen asks military top brass

CEBU Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia urged newly appointed Air Force Second Air Force Division Commander Maj. Gen. Roy Deveraturda to hasten the reversion of the 80-hectare Camp Lapu-Lapu used by the Central Command (Centcom) to the Province of Cebu.

Garcia said the delayed turnover is stalling development of the property and frustrating occupants who have expressed their desire to buy the lots they are occupying.

She told reporters on Wednesday that bonafide occupants of part of the property will be given the chance to buy the lots they occupy while the remaining parcels will be offered to investors in partnership with the province.

Deveraturda used to head the Department of National Defense (DND) – Armed Forces panel for Centcom relocation.

He paid the governor a courtesy call upon his assumption as the new commander of the Mactan Air Base, now called the Brigadier General Benito N. Ebuen Airbase in Lapu-Lapu City.

The relocation of the Centcom headquarters and the reversion of the property back to the province is based on a 2009 agreement between Governor Garcia and then defense secretary Gilberto Teodoro.

Garcia said the inventory, design, and detailed engineering of the military structures to be replicated from the Centcom lots in Camp Lapu-Lapu, Barangay Apas, Cebu City to the military headquarters in Lapu-Lapu City were already finished.

Cost estimates were also drawn up.

“Now we wish to proceed from there,” Garcia said.

The property was donated by the province to the armed forces in 1959 on the condition that it jwould be used solely for military purposes.

During Garcia’s term, the governor discovered that the condition was violated since informal settlers were already occupying part of the land.

This prompted the governor’s decision to recover the lots.

Recently, informal settlers expressed interest to buy the lots they are actually occupying.

About 1,500 families re expected to benefit from the agreement.

In last September’s meeting at the Capitol, the Federation of Barangay Apas Residents Association Inc. told the governor that they wrote to Malacañang asking auhtorities to speed up the reversion of the land’s ownership.