Probe, CPA clash over tarps

CEBU, Philippines - Following verbal orders from the mayor, Cebu city hall employees tried to remove a tarpaulin signage at the contested area near Senior Citizens Park but were stopped by Cebu Ports Authority (CPA) security.

Wendell Cenas from Prevention Restoration Order Beautification Enhancement (PROBE) of the city government and his men were about to remove the signage when Port Police Inspector Antonio Germinanda, Jr. prevented them from the touching the tarpaulin unless they show a written consent from CPA General Manager Dennis Villamor.

Germinanda said he and his team of blue guards were doing their daily roving at their assigned area when they chanced upon city hall employees who were starting to remove the tarpaulin.

“When we got here, we saw them removing the side part of the signage. So we asked them who gave them the permission to remove that. We need to see a written order from CPA general manager (Dennis Villamor) before we allow them to continue what they were doing,” Germinanda told reporters.

Relaying what PROBE chief Raquel Arce instructed Cenas, he told Germinanda that Arce spoke with Villamor’s secretary over the phone informing them of the mayor’s directive to remove the tarpaulin at the contested property.

“We cannot just give them the go signal because we will be answerable to our superiors. They could not even give the name of the secretary, how can we honor that? Unless they present a written order or permission from CPA, that’s the time we allow them to remove whatever CPA has mounted,” the port police added.

He, however, declined to comment on whether the property is owned by CPA considering the city government is also claiming ownership over the parcel of reclaimed lot right beside the city-owned and maintained Senior Citizen’s Park.

CPA mounted the tarpaulin that said the property is under their custody through a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Cebu City government is also claiming that the same reclaimed area adjacent to the rear entrance of city hall is no longer under the ports authority but with the local government unit.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama maintained his stand that the property is owned by the city government and reiterated that CPA violated the authority of the local government unit when they fenced the property without securing a permit from the city hall.

He reminded Arce and city administrator Atty. Jose Marie Poblete that the tarpaulin should be removed as soon as possible.

“I do not want that tarp in my sight. If there’s a need to tap the PNP to do that, so be it,” Rama ordered in his press conference held in Sitio Bato, Barangay Ermita.

Rama went to the site to initially distribute the first batch of housing materials for the April fire victims.

City Social Welfare and Services chief Ester Concha said the 35 families belonged to the first batch each receiving a set of 10 plywood sheets and another 10 galvanized iron sheets.

Under the re-blocked site, house units measured either 12 or 16 square meters depending on its location prior to the huge fire.

PROBE executive officer Harold Alcontin explained they based the measurement according to geographic information system (GIS) imaging of the area before the recent fire left thousands homeless.

“Ang katong 12 square meters mao ni silang naa ibabaw sa tubig. Ato man ning filling-an og yuta aron dili na maglutaw sa tubig ilang balay. Katong didto sa mala, 16 square meters ilang luna, (The 12 sq. meters are those above water. We will fill it with soil so that their houses will not be on the water. Those on dry land have 16 sq. meters),” Alcontin told reporters.

He added that this re-blocking system was properly consulted and agreed upon by affected residents.

The recipient of the first batch of housing materials belonged to the second phase of the re-blocked Sitio Bato with a total of 50 lots.

Of the total lots, only 48 were allotted for residential units, 12 of them being shared by more than one family.

One lot, facing the sea, is intended for the barangay activity center while another lot is for communal comfort room.

Apart from the residential units, the entire re-blocked site, both phase one and two, has a total of five communal comfort rooms, one activity and a day care center. (FREEMAN)