THE Cebu Provincial Government is set to file an ejectment case against the Highway Patrol Group in Central Visayas (HPG 7) following failed negotiations to transfer the police unit from the former’s property along Gorordo Avenue in Cebu City.
Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia will ask the Provincial Board (PB) in its regular session on Monday, Dec. 12, 2022, to grant her the authority to file the case, Sugbo News said.
Before the governor’s move, the PB is set to revoke the deed of donation signed by then governor Hilario Davide III in August 2018, the official news platform of the Cebu Provincial Government reported.
Governor Garcia described the previous administration move as “onerous donation of a highly commercial area” owned by the Province of Cebu, adding that it has long shortchanged the Provincial Government and its constituents.
The governor said that during the time of donation, the 679-square-meter lot at a conservative valuation of P200,000 per square meter, was already worth P135 million.
“Irregular gyud ni. Kinsa guy manghatag og yuta nga pwerteng mahala na na? Nya, without any compensation whatsoever to the Province of Cebu,” Garcia said.
(This is really irregular. Who wants to donate a piece of land that is already expensive? Then it happened without any compensation whatsoever to the Province of Cebu.)
Defective deed
In previous meetings with HPG officials, the governor already reiterated that the deed of donation was found defective because it did not have prior approval from the Commission on Audit as required by law.
In a meeting last Dec. 6, Governor Garcia informed HPG 7 Director Niel Francia and HPG-Metro Cebu Chief Silvestre Cenia that she has offered the HPG 7 a relocation site in Sudlon, Barangay Lahug near the Cebu Police Provincial Office.
However, the HPG has not taken the Cebu Provincial Government seriously when it offered through usufruct agreement the 737-square-meter relocation site, Sugbo News said.
“Naa nay yuta, ako na nang gi-offer. Mas dako pa gyud na. You belong there (in Sudlon), not on a highly commercial, very valuable lot,” Garcia said.
Other government offices occupying Capitol-owned lots were offered the same site in Sudlon, Lahug. Some of these are Maritime Industry Authority, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, National Food Authority, and they have agreed with the Capitol’s offer.