Rama to BFP: Move out

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama wants the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) out of the city-owned property.

The mayor has sent the BFP Regional Office a letter last month asking the latter to vacate the premises in three months. Asked to vacate were the BFP-7 Office and the BFP Provincial Office, which is in the same compound.

Rama said the property is being eyed as an annex building or extension of the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC).

“Papangitaon lang sila’g laing lugar kay naa ta’y plano diha,” Rama said. (They have to look for other places because we have plans for that lot.)

The mayor wants the CCMC’s Outpatient Department to transfer to that property. He is also eyeing the skywalk beside it to be converted into a bridge that will connect the CCMC building to the building across when it is finally converted into the hospital’s annex building.

But Insp. Josephus Alburo, executive assistant of BFP-7, said they will not vacate the property since it has been turned over to the bureau in June 22, 1987.

“If naa sila’y document, asa man? Wala man koy nakit-an. Basta nakahibaw ko na ang tag-iya ana ang syudad,” Rama said. (Do they have documents to prove that? As far as I know the City owns that lot.)

“Sige ra ba sila’g duso-duso sa akong Fire Marshal,” he added. (And they have been pushing my fire marshal around.)

The mayor denied that this is a retaliation against the BFP-7 whose head recommended the relief of Cebu City Fire Marshal Aderson Comar.

Last March, BFP-7 Regional Director Maria Luisa Hadjula recommended the relief of Comar due to a fire that killed three people in barangay Poblacion Pardo.

Rama opposed the relief. The mayor wants Comar to stay because he believes that the fatalities must not be solely blamed on the firefighters. Rama said that the BFP must instead equip the fire department to be able to respond to alarms more efficiently.

The mayor asked the BFP to present documents supporting its claim that the property was indeed turned over to the bureau.

Alburo said that in a letter last July 9, they already told the mayor that they will not vacate the building. He assured they have documents to prove that the building was turned over by the city to the BFP in 1987. He said that apart from their current office, seven other substations were turned over to the BFP then.

These documents, Alburo said, were already submitted to the mayor’s office.

“We are still using the building and we are still performing our mandated duties,” Alburo said.

Tentatively scheduled for next week, Alburo said that Hadjula, who is in Manila for a command conference, will arrange a meeting with the mayor to discuss the matter.  (FREEMAN)