Council reviewing legal opinion about Ciudad

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Council has subjected under review the legal opinion of the city attorney in favor of the Ciudad Project because they are intending to contest it.

Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young said that the lawyers at the City Legal Office are not the only lawyers in the country and that they do not agree with their insights.

“The legal opinion is under review. What they said that the lot is for public use is ridiculous. It’s not based on solid jurisprudence,” Young said.

Though Mayor Michael Rama denied it, Young said that the mayor prevented the release of the legal opinion to the council but he was able to get a copy of it.

Young furnished all the councilors an unofficial copy of the legal opinion.

He said it was unofficial because City Attorney Joseph Bernaldez did not grant his request for a copy twice and instead told him to get the copy from the mayor or get the consent of the mayor.

Young does not buy the explanation of the Executive Department that the legal opinion asked by City Administrator Jose Marie Poblete was for his personal consumption only and not to be applied to the issue on the Ciudad project.

The vice mayor suspects that someone is helping the Fifth Avenue Development Corp. to get all requirements so the City Planning and Development Office can issue the locational clearance.

“We don’t believe that it is not intended for the Ciudad because I was told that the legal opinion was attached to the application,” Young said.

When the report about the legal opinion surfaced, Rama was quick to inhibit himself and said that it was the administrator who asked for it without his knowledge and in violation of the Local Government Code.

The Local Government Code says that only the mayor, governor and the city council can ask for a legal opinion.

Poblete said that he asked for the opinion for his personal consumption since he is also a member of the zoning board.

But Poblete said that the legal opinion does not bind the mayor, though the mayor can adopt it.

The city legal office rendered an opinion favoring the Ciudad project saying that this province-owned lot in the Banilad-Talamban corridor can be used for commercial purposes.

The opinion also said that the project is considered for public use since it will be opened for public access. Declaring that it is for public use will make project compliant with City Ordinance 2193, or the Amended Zoning Ordinance of Cebu City.

Under Section 1 of CO 2193, it was provided that all lands acquired under the Friar Lands Act shall be for public use. – (FREEMAN)