Talisay City wants Cebu City to secure permits for construction projects

Talisay City has issued a cease and desist order in a bid to stop Cebu City from constructing a vehicle repair bay and a warehousing facility on the Talisay City portion of the South Road Properties (SRP).

The order, signed by Talisay City legal officer Alfredo Sipalay, was addressed to Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama.

“Cebu City is not getting permits from us, so we issued a cease and desist order (CDO),” Sipalay said.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said however, that the construction of the facilities will go on despite the CDO, saying “there is no reason for us not to pursue the construction project”.

Rama said that as of noon yesterday, he has not seen a copy of the CDO.

City Administrator Jose Marie Poblete and City Engineer Kenneth Carmelita Enriquez told Cebu Daily News at 5 p.m. yesterday that they have yet to receive a copy of the CDO

Sipalay however, clarified that the move was not meant to bolster Talisay City’s claim of ownership over a portion of the SRP.

He said they only want the city government of Cebu City to secure the necessary permits and pay taxes for using the property that the city government claims is within the territorial jurisdiction of Talisay City.

“Our point is, we will not get the area, but we are to collect taxes including the business permits since we will be the one to issue zoning clearances because the lot is located in Talisay,” Sipalay said.

The area where Cebu City is planning to construct a repair bay and warehouse is to be located in a piece of land that is part of the more than 54 hectares that was originally claimed by Talisay City.

Talisay City Planning and Development Coordinator Christine Homez said a representative of F.F. Cruz and Co. Inc. which conducted the political boundary surveys of the two cities, requested a meeting next week with the representatives of the two local government units to help resolve the territorial dispute.

Sipalay however, wanted Cebu City to show good faith by halting plans to commence construction before the scheduled meeting with F.F. Cruz Co. Inc.

“Stopping the work on the aforesaid construction projects in the meantime before our scheduled meeting with FF Cruz takes place would show good faith on Cebu City’s part,” Sipalay said.

Talisay City government’s claim of jurisdiction over a portion of the SRP should not prejudice the ongoing construction of two Cebu City government structures, Rama said.

Rama said the fact that the area is already fenced in is an indication of the city’s ownership of the property.

Still, Rama wanted Talisay City’s claim of jurisdiction reviewed by the City Legal Office so that the city government will be guided on its next course of action.

“But for now, there is no reason for us not to pursue the construction project,” Rama said.

Cebu City Administrator Poblete clarified that the structure located near pond F is not a pier as mentioned in the two-page CDO, a copy of which was obtained by Cebu Daily News.

The structure was built as a jetty or as a wave deflector to protect the reclamation project from destructive waves.

Poblete added that while it is true that the two infrastructure projects are built on an area which used to be part of Talisay’s waters, they already lost jurisdiction of the area after their municipal waters was replaced with land.

“It’s a question now if mo-apply pa ba ang ilang jurisdiction sa reclaimed area. What jurisdiction are they talking about now?” Poblete told Cebu Daily News.

Poblete said that even Talisay’s plan to tax the city for reclaiming part of their territorial waters is a legal question.

“Lahi ang balaod sa municipal waters. It does not include the power to tax. Jurisdiction over municipal water is just jurisdiction on the use of its marine resources. If the water is converted into land, dili mo follow nga pwede nila ma tax,” he said.

Ownership claims

This is not the first time that a Talisay City official claimed ownership of a portion of the SRP.

Former Talisay City Mayor Soc Fernandez also made an earlier claim that about 53 hectares of the SRP encroached Talisay City waters and should be declared as a property of their city.

Fernandez’s claims irked former mayor Tomas Osmeña who called his counterpart a “land grabber.”

The issuance of a land patent and later land title in favor of the Cebu City government placed the issue to rest.

Now, Talisay City is making a new claim that the land occupied by the city’s two construction projects are within their jurisdiction and would therefore need permits from the Talisay City government.

But even before Talisay could formalize their claims, Enriquez already sought the help of the city legal office on two issues in a letter dated May 21, 2013.

The first, is on the claims of a certain Mr. Taneo that he owns about 90 sq. meters of lot K-1 of the SRP where the vehicle repair bay and centralized warehouse projects are located.

The second issue is on the result of a survey by a group of surveyors which showed that a large portion of the area where the two projects are located is within the political jurisdiction of Talisay City.

Atty. Lyndon Basan of the City Legal Office said in a June 5 opinion that after “further scrutiny of documents, we found out that this lot (K-1) is in the process of cancellation of the claim in favor of Cebu City but still pending upon cancellation of other claim.”

Basan said in his three-page opinion that Cebu City’s ownership of the 300-hectare SRP was already established with the issuance of Presidential Proclamation No. 843 on May 16, 2005.

He said that while part of the construction site may be located within Talisay City’s political jurisdiction such a fact “will not affect the right of Cebu City as owner of the property” thus the city’s ongoing construction projects on Lot -1 and Lot 1- L are “valid.”

“It should be noted that the owner of the SRP is the City of Cebu, thus, (the city) can very well exercise the attributes of ownership over the said properties including the right to control and possess the same subject to existing pertinent laws on property possession and control,”said Basan’s legal opinion.

The opinion added that “the ownership and the character of the SRP having been established, the construction projects of any kind for improvement purposes, in the exercise of the powers expressly granted to local government units, can be legally done, as a matter of course.”

Basan said that based on his legal arguments, there is no doubt that “that the authority to make any operation on the SRP is vested in the Cebu City Government.”

He said that the city has the sole right to implement improvement projects in the area and authorize conveyances, leases , or disposal of parcels of the SRP subject to approval by the city council.

“This is, therefore, not an issue of jurisdiction but ownership. Cebu City can control the same by making projects for any purpose by virtue of the attributes of ownership,” Basan said. /Christine Emily L. Pantaleon, DORIS C. BONGCAC, EDISON A. DELOS ANGELES, Gabriel C. Bonjoc