Tom wants probe on Capitol’s alleged collection of toll fees

Mayor Tomas Osmeña will order for an investigation on the alleged collecting of fees by the provincial government from people who enter into or pass by Capitol-owned properties in the city.

Osmeña said that what the Capitol is doing is illegal because there is a national agency that supervises and regulates the collection of fees by government units.

He is referring to the Toll Regulatory Board, which is under the Department of Public Works and Highways, that closely supervises and regulates the collection of toll fees for the use of certain public improvements and the operation of toll facilities by the private sector.

“I’ll have it investigated. I don’t think that’s legal (collecting of fees),” Osmeña said yesterday.

This after Apas barangay councilman Alan Majait revealed that the province recently prevented the barangay from constructing a day care center in sitio Mahayahay.

Majait said that there are guards closely watching the roads going to the province-owned lots in Apas and inspecting people who pass by the area.

He added that even the barangay has to seek the permission of the province and has to pay P150 for the construction materials they brought to sitio Mahayahay for the fencing of their day care school there.

The provincial government is regulating construction, especially of houses on its lots in the city, most of which are now being occupied by the city’s urban poor residents. The Capitol revealed its intention to recover these lots and develop them for commercial use after the relationship between Osmeña and Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia turned sour following a failed lot swap deal. . — Wenna A. Berondo/MEEV