City health office asked: Attend to houseowner's lament on rats

CEBU, Philippines - Rats entered the house of Amelita Sola beside the old Fort San Pedro, after City Hall personnel failed to repair the damaged portion destroyed by the team on orders of Mayor Michael Rama.

In her letter dated September 3, 2012 adddressed to the mayor, Sola said one of her family members was already bitten by a rat and was confined at the Miller Sanitarium Hospital.

“This situation is quite alarming since it puts the children and members of the family living in the house in danger and vulnerable to leptospirosis,” Sola said in her letter.

Assistant City Administrator Dominic Dino has already requested City Health Officer Stella Ygona to make appropriate action on the problem of Sola about the rat infestation in her house.

During the City Council session yesterday, the city legislators approved the committee report of Councilor Margarita “Margot” Osmeña requesting the mayor to immediately comply with his promise to Sola.

Sola had agreed to sign a Letter of Consent allowing the City Hall personnel to demolish a portion of her house, about two meters from the wall of the old Spanish Fort, because the mayor assured that the city will repair the damaged portion.

The mayor wants the City to buy the 87-square meter lot owned by Sola so that it can be used as a passage way to link the area near the existing Cebu City Post Office to the back portion of the old Spanish Fort.

Osmeña visited the place a few days ago and saw for herself that Sola’s house was damaged and that rats from the Fort San Pedro were entering the house.

Although Councilor Daluz already proposed to the City Council to allow Rama to sign an agreement with Sola for the sale of her property at P2,039,500, the city legislators still refuse to give their go signal.

The City Appraisal Team headed by City Assessor Eustaquio Cesa gave different amounts of the appraised value of the lots. First at P6,000 then the second was P8,000 and there was another amount of P15,000 per square meter of lot.

Osmeña wants to know why the amount varied. “Bisan og tag P15,000 pa ang square meter dili gihapon moabut og P2,039,500 ang presyo,” she said. (Even at P15,000 the total cost would not reach P2 million.) – Rene U. Borromeo/JPM(FREEMANNEWS)