Exec: Legal opinion won’t bind city mayor

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama is not bound by the legal opinion about the Ciudad project that the city administrator requested from the City Legal Office.

City Administrator Jose Marie Poblete said yesterday that he  requested for the legal opinion on the Ciudad development project along Gov. Cuenco Avenue, which was for his personal consumption.

He said he sent his request two months ago when the Ciudad issue was not so controversial but he received the legal opinion only two weeks ago.

Poblete said the legal office could render another opinion should Mayor Rama would seek the office’s opinion on the Ciudad issue.

“It (the legal opinion) does not bind the mayor but he can adopt the legal opinion if he wishes to,” he said.

Poblete sought the legal opinion as a guide in the discussions of the zoning board on the Cuidad project.

Rama, for his part, said that he wasn’t happy that other people at City Hall knew of the legal opinion ahead of him.

He said he didn’t seek the opinion and yet he was furnished a copy that he had yet to read.

“Normally if you are on my shoes, you will get irked.  To me a legal opinion is sacred because it carries the (name) of the Office of the Mayor,” he said.

“There must have been an oversight on the part of Poblete. He went ahead in asking for legal opinion.  I did not ask for that,” Rama said.

Poblete’s request on the Ciudad project prompted Rep. Tomas Osmeña, Cebu City South district, to threaten Rama with a possible suit if the mayor would approve the Ciudad project.

Osmeña said the ordinance declaring the Ciudad site as part of friar lands and for it to be used only for public purposes, was still in effect. /Doris C. Bongcac, Chief of Reporters