Developer defers selling of 80 lots

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu Landmasters, Inc. has temporarily deferred the selling of at least 80 lots of its new residential development in Minglanilla town apparently due to a pending legal process.

“There are still about 100 lots that we are selling but are deferring to sell about 80 lots gumikan sa gamay nga proceso nga atong gipaabot nga naa ra sa kamot sa gobyerno,” CLI chief executive Jose Soberano III said during the firm’s groundbreaking of its Velmiro Heights housing project in the town’s Barangay Tunghaan.

Soberano said he is assured the order to lift the Friar Lands Act which affects some land areas in Cebu would be done within six months or less.

“Ang ownership naa na nato apan ato lang gustong ipahapsay [ang process] usa nato ibaligya,” he added.

Friar lands act

The Friar Lands Act which was enacted in 1904 provides for the “administration and temporary leasing and sale of certain haciendas and parcels of land, commonly known as Friar Lands, for the purchase of which the government of the Philippine Islands has recently contracted…”

He said some portions of lands in Minglanilla and cities of Talisay and Naga are covered by the said Act.

The Act says that in 1903, the Philippine government entered into contracts with some estate firms for the purchase of about “one hundred and sixty-four thousand one hundred and twenty-seven hectares of land, situated in the provinces of Laguna, Bulacan, Cavite, Bataan, Cebu, Rizal, Isabela and Mindoro.”

This was in pursuant to the provisions of sections 63, 64 and 65 of an Act of the Congress of the United States entitled “An Act temporarily to provide for the administration of the affairs of civil government in the Philippine Island, and for other purposes.”

Soberano, however, assured the lot units in the 8.8-hectare project site already have titles.

The mid to upscale housing development will have 428 house and lot units, with house prices ranging from P2 million to P6 million. Its construction will start within a month.

CLI also broke ground its Casa Mira economic housing project in Barangay Linao in the same town.

Soberano also announced his company is going to launch five more projects this year. — (FREEMAN)