Cebu Port Authority seeks dialogue on disputed lot; Rama firm on claim

The Cebu Port Authority (CPA) is seeking more dialogue with the city government of Cebu on the contested six-hectare lot where the Compania Maritima building is located.

Lawyer Yusop J. Uckung, deputy general manager of the CPA said they are willing to sit down onces again with City Hall to settle their land conflict.

“There was just a miscommunication between CPA and the city government of Cebu,” Uckong said.

Over at City Hall, Mayor Michael Rama says that he is standing firm on his stand that the land does not belong to the CPA.

“I already have that matter handled by the city administrator and the city attorney’s office,” Rama said when sought for comment on CPA’s plan to develop the disputed lot fronting the city hall’s executive building for commercial purposes.

But Uckung said the mayor may have just been carried by emotions and hopes Mayor Rama is open to talk to them.

He added that City Hall vehicles, even those owned by its employees and senior citizens are free to park in the Compania Maritima lot.

Other private and government vehicles he added will have to pay parking fees.

They have been communicating with Jose Maria Poblete, City Administrator about the opening and using of the lot for parking, he said.

The concrete walls and metal fences put up by CPA in the disputed lot fronting the City Hall was just ‘misinterpreted,’ said the CPA official.

Two weeks ago, the City Hall removed the fences to reassert its claim over the Compania Maritima lots.

The metal fences Uckung said was for the diversion of traffic while the diversion road project it is implementing with the Department of Public Works and Highways is ongoing.

Proof of ownership

After the press conference, Uckung and other officers of CPA gave the media a tour around the port and the disputed lot.

Karen Gonzales, media relations officer of CPA said that the two bollards (posts used for ship mooring) near the Compania Maritima building proves that it was a port facility.

She said , “If we have unity then there will be more improvements about this one. It doesn’t matter who owns this lot what matters it helps and this benefit is for the people.”

Gonzales said that the old building could be developed for commercial purposes or converted into a museum.

Sought for comment on the proposed partnership with CPA on the development of the disputed lot, Rama said “No comment.”

Meanwhile, Gerone Castillo, city legal officer said their initial research indicate insufficiencies in the CPA’s claim of ownership over the disputed land.

“They have to present a title to establish that they own the land,” Castillo said.

In his talks with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Castillo said that the lot has no titled owner.

“Based on my initial research, the property is classified as alienable and disposable by the DENR. Therefore it is a public land,” he said. /Correspondents Michell Joy L. Padayhag and Santino S. Bunachita