Capitol may face suit over DA lot

CEBU, Philippines - The Regional Agriculture and Fisheries Council of the Department of Agriculture have threatened to file a class suit against the Cebu Provincial Government to stop the latter from evicting them from the Capitol-owned property along M. Velez Street in Cebu City.

On top of the class suit, RAFC has signed up a manifesto on the matter expressing their opposition to the decision of the province to recover the lot.

RAFC oversight committee chairman Jorge Alcordo said that they are preparing the suit to stop the provincial government from shooing them out of the lot that they have been occupying for 50 years.

According to him, they have laboratory facilities in the compound that any disruption of their operational research studies and production will have an immediate negative impact on the agro-business enterprise and on the livestock production, and even the human health.

Alcordo said that four DA laboratories will be affected and these are the biologic vaccine laboratory, the regional diagnostic laboratory, the bird flu laboratory and the regional feed analysis laboratory. If these laboratories are temporarily transferred, he added this would mean that their operation will have to be halted temporarily for a year because they will have to install everything again.

DA-7 director Ricardo Oblena was already packing up yesterday as they have been given until January 30 to vacate the province-owned lot.

Oblena said that transferring to another area would be a problem to them and admitted that the laboratories will have to stop operating for the meantime due to the relocation.

Some employees and private sectors affected by the eviction said that they are asking a copy of the memorandum of agreement signed by DA Secretary Arthur Yap and Governor Gwendolyn Garcia on the usufruct agreement that states that their use of the land has ended last September.

Cebu Provincial Attorney Marino Martinquilla said the DA acknowledged its failure to transfer last September 30 because of financial concern.

Oblena said that the relocation budget was not included in the 2009 budget, so they were not able to process their transfer to Mandaue City.

Martinquilla, however, said the DA-7 already signified its intention to transfer this year because the relocation budget was already included for 2010.

“It is unfortunate that they don’t have budget for relocation,” he said.

According to a memorandum of agreement executed last year, the DA-7 has to fully vacate the province-owned property on or before September 30, 2009. — Jasmin U. Labaco/WAB   (FREEMAN NEWS)