Gwen writes Tom for city to vacate lot used as zoo

CEBU - Governor Gwendolyn Garcia has sent a demand letter to Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña asking Cebu City to vacate the property being used by the city zoo in barangay Kalunasan.

This came after the Provincial Board terminated the province’s agreement with the city on the use of the property.

In her letter dated October 10, Garcia informed the city mayor that a PB resolution has authorized her to start recovery of the 7,000-square-meters city zoo lot.

The seven page letter addressed to Osmeña also contained a copy of the approved resolution of the PB last September 1.

Osmeña was reminded that the Cebu provincial government under then Cebu governor Francisco Remotigue donated two parcels of lot to the Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP) last October 14, 1963.

These lots are lot 1298 with an area of 222,110 square meters and an adjacent lot of 3,160 square meters also known as lot 1303.

A portion of lot 1298 with an area of 70,000 square meters that was excluded from the donation was set aside for a city zoo.

Under the deed of donation that Remotigue entered into with the BSP, which stated that a seven-hectare portion of lot 1298, specifically the gully and ravine can be set aside for the Cebu City Zoo which was then located at Fort San Pedro.

In the resolution of PB Member Juan Bolo, he cited that the deed of donation as proof that the zoo property is owned by the Cebu provincial government and that the lot is excluded from the deed of donation.

In a resolution approved, it read that “the setting aside of said portion for the use, operation and maintenance of the Cebu City Zoo is a unilateral and gratuitous act of the Province of Cebu, which granted a benefit or advantage but vested and created no right in favor of the Cebu City Zoo or any other person for that matter, could be unilaterally withdrawn by the Province of Cebu in the exercise of its rights as owners thereof.

Just recently, the BSP and the Cebu provincial government entered into a Memorandum of Understanding for the return of donated lots no. 1298 and 1303 and the relocation of the BSP campsite to another area.

“There has never been a donation made to other persons or entities involving said area of 70, 000 square meters and said portion is still a property of the Province of Cebu for all intents and purposes,” Bolo’s resolution said.

Garcia said that the province needed the property to build a women’s crisis center, which has long been delayed.

The governor said that the women’s crisis center is “more beneficial” to the community.

Garcia and Osmeña have been openly critical of each other’s projects ever since a proposed land exchange deal between the City and Province collapsed in early 2006.

Last year, the Province closed certain roads in the city that crossed Capitol-owned lots, while the City sat on the permit applications for a provincial project in Banilad called “Ciudad”.

Also, the both parties are now fighting in court over ownership of Fuente Osmeña and surrounding properties. — Garry B. Lao/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)