City asked to help stop Apas demolition

CEBU, Philippines - Residents of Sitio San Miguel, Barangay Apas, Cebu City, for the second time, asked Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama for intervention to prevent their pending eviction on March 31.

The six-month extension granted by the court upon the request of the mayor last August will terminate this March. They were supposed to be evicted last July after Regional Trial Court Branch 9 Acting Presiding Judge Olegario Sarmiento ordered in favor of the Godinez Family, the original owner of the supposedly expropriated lot.

Apas Captain Ramil Ayuman said that about 30 of them went to City Hall yesterday to meet with the mayor and submit the resolution passed by the barangay asking the city government to treat with urgency the case of the 168 families that are threatened to be evicted.

They are hopeful that there are still other legal remedies to prevent the eviction especially as they have discovered new information that might be used as evidence that would strengthen their case.

Ayuman said that Mayor Rama referred the matter to City Attorney Joseph Bernaldez whom they will meet next week to discuss what can be done to protect the residents.

Ayuman said that the case of the members of the Archangels Residents Mergence Inc. (formerly Four Roses Neighborhood Association, Inc.) is more urgent than the case of 93-1 beneficiaries.

“We asked the help of the mayor for any legal remedy. If the city is really serious in protecting the welfare of the urban poor, they will help us,” Ayuman said.

Ayuman said that they are firm in their stand that the affected residents are builders in good faith and they deserve to own the lot they are occupying now as they have been there for 50 to 60 years already.

He said that residents thought all along that the lot they are occupying has been successfully expropriated by the government and they were caught off-guard when all of a sudden, the heirs of the original owner claim interest to get the land back.

“What we are after now is for the city to enforce the City Ordinance No. 1772 on socialized housing site and to uphold the provisions of Executive Order 152 (rule of section 28 of R.A.7279),” said Anne Jareiyn Martel, one of the residents affected.

C.O. 1772 identified the Lot 937 covering approximately 6.1 hectares of land in sitio San Miguel as a socialized housing site.

Lot 937 was supposedly an expropriated property but the government was able to give only a deposit, failing to pay for the lot in full. The owners filed a case to recover it. (FREEMAN)