Villarete says Mary Ann’s concerns on new Lahug boundaries baseless

Lahug barangay captain Mary Ann de los Santos’ concerns about the new territorial boundaries the city planning office has recommended for her barangay is baseless according to city planning and development Coordinator Nigel Paul Villarete.

Villarete said the barangay captain’s allegations that there was no public hearing held on the matter is premature because this, he said, is a concern of the city council and not during the conduct of engineering and scientific methodologies.

He said what the city planning office did was merely to get basic ground information through technical, geodetic, and Geographical Information System surveys whose results are subject to the perusal of the city council. 

Villarete said that if De los Santos wants to question the validity of the recommended demarcation lines, she should have questioned the process undertaken and not delve on the political aspect of things.

“It is not my job to determine political aspirations at any level…that is an activity that is beyond my level,” Villarete said.

Vice Mayor Michael Rama said the city council has already formed a three-man committee that would study and evaluate the recommendations of the city planning office and determine whether or not it is necessary to hold a public consultation. 

De los Santos had written to the council and asked that the recommendations that Mayor Tomas Osmeña had endorsed be remanded to the city planning office for the conduct of a public consultation.

She argued that in the determination of new boundaries, two things are required: the passage of an ordinance and the conduct of a public consultation.

While he agrees with the first requisite, Rama, however, said that the conduct of a public consultation is not a strict requirement.

De los Santos had cried foul over the move of the city planning office and the endorsement of Osmeña, saying that the new boundaries would reduce not only Lahug’s population and area but also its economic jurisdiction.

The new demarcation lines would, in effect, give the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel to barangay Luz, the IT Park to barangay Apas, the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel to barangay Busay and the Cebu Parklane International Hotel to barangay Kamputhaw.

The other day, Osmeña shrugged off De los Santos’ allegations, saying the latter cannot argue that the city is deliberately taking away barangay Lahug’s major tax payers because it was not De los Santos who brought the investors into the barangay.

Osmeña argued that the city’s move is but fair especially to barangay Luz because it is the barangay that has reportedly been giving garbage collection services to the establishments along Archbishop Reyes Street, starting from the Grand Convention Center.

De los Santos had said she will not hesitate to bring her stand to court, something that did not in any way sway Osmeña. – Joeberth M. Ocao/QSB