THERE now seems to be light at the end of the tunnel.Such is the case for around 5,000 Cebu City families who had been occupying for more than 30 years the 93-1 lots that are the subject of a land swap agreement between the Cebu Provincial Capitol and the Cebu City Government.Cebu City Councilor Raymond Garcia and his aunt Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia met on Tuesday, March 8, 2022 for lunch at the Capitol where they discussed the 93-1 land swap that has yet to be implemented.“I had lunch with our governor, and I asked her what her direction was, and she still wanted the land swap of (32 hectares) 93-1 properties (in exchange for the 2.5-hectare lot in South Road Properties),” Garcia said during an interview with SunStar Cebu.“Many thanks to Aunt Gwen for your continued support of our 93-1 beneficiaries and also to Mayor Mike Rama for guiding me in finding a solution to the problem of 5,000 families whose security of tenure has been compromised,” Garcia also said in a Facebook post.The younger Garcia, majority floor leader of the Cebu City Council and Mayor Michael Rama’s running mate in the coming May 2022 elections, said a final draft of the memorandum of agreement between Capitol and the City will be forwarded to the Council before March 25 to allow Rama to sign the land swap deal.March 25 is the start of the campaign period for locally elected positions.Garcia also said in the new draft, the relocation site of Cebu City in Consolacion town, northern Cebu and the land that was formerly occupied by the Cebu City Zoo in Barangay Kalunasan will no longer be included in the swap arrangement.To recall, the 93-1 land swap deal was signed by then mayor Tomas Osmeña and then governor and now Vice Gov. Hilario “Junjun” Davide III in August 2018.The deal was later voided after the Commission on Audit (COA) found that the two local government units entered into the deal without prior consent from state auditors.Garcia said after Osmeña lost to the late Cebu City mayor Edgardo Labella in the May 2019 election, the deed of donation and acceptance of the properties involved in the deal were not implemented due to the legal issues.Garcia was optimistic that the newly drafted land swap agreement would now be approved by the COA for the occupants of 93-1 lots located in 11 barangays in Cebu City to enjoy security of tenure.Garcia said the COA also wanted the values of the lands exchanged to be equal. (TPT)