Rama appeals for court’s sensitivity

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama has appealed on the sensitivity of the court handling the civil case filed by the families affected by the demolition of Citi Center Complex in Barangay Kamagayan.

Rama said the area is now in a better situation after the demolition. The mayor said the city government has a plan of building two five-storey condominiums in the area – one is for the City Hall employees and the other is for the qualified residents of the barangay. In fact, the projects are already included in the proposed 2015 annual budget.

“Buhaton man to’g condominium… The court should be very sensitive because what is now the picture of that area? Is it an enhanced picture or a dirty picture?” Rama asked.

Last week, the affected families through their lawyer Benjamin Militar reite-rated that there was no legal basis to summarily demolish their houses. The city government cleared the area in August this year.

“The basis for the demo-lition of the petitioners’ homes based on the notices sent by respondent Arce (Prevention, Restoration, Order, Beautification and Enhancement (PROBE) chief Raquel Arce) is violation of Article 694 of the Civil Code (nuisance), City Ordinance 1481 and Republic Act 7279. This is absolutely a distortion amounting to misrepresentation, ignorance of the law, if not pure arrogance,” their motion read.

They mentioned Republic Act 7279, which “prohibits the summary and extrajudicial demolition of the petitioners’ homes without any court order if the nuisance is not a public nuisance.”

Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor chief Collin Rosell said the city government is on the process of the implementing the projects.

He said earlier that Pag-IBIG Fund is ready to assist in funding the construction of the two condominium buildings.

“Ang funds permi ana dugay ng nagtigom ang mga empleyado (of City Hall) sa funds. Naa silay (City Hall employees) kaugalingon nga contribution (to PAG-IBIG) nga kun dili sad nila gamiton, magproblema sad ang Pag-IBIG kay ang kwarta naa nila niya wala’y mogamit,” he said.

In fact, the members of the City Hall Employees Housing Cooperative are willing to be part of this program. Rama and Rosell said that there are City Hall employees who do not have houses in the city.

The projects are estimated to cost P750 million to P1 billion. (FREEMAN)