Osmeña replies
LAST Tuesday, I wrote about a paper written by former Cebu governor and congressman Pablo Garcia questioning the validity of the sale of portions of the South Road Properties (SRP) to some of the country’s corporate giants.
Garcia, the 1951 bar examination third placer, opined that all these deals are void because first, they were done without the benefit of congressional approval and second, they were sold to private corporations. These buyers, Garcia said, are not qualified under the constitution to acquire ownership of lands of the public domain that have been declared alienable and disposable.
The former governor warned that unless these issues are addressed in due time, the reclaimed lands which are now known as the SRP, could revert back to the national government.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña reacted quickly via text message. “Read your comments today,” he said. “You quote Pabling Garcia that the SRP (sale) is illegal because any alienable land granted to a government unit (i.e. the Cebu City Government) cannot be sold except when authorized by Congress.”
Osmeña added that while “Noy Pabling is a good lawyer, in this case, he seems to be blinded by bitterness” because he or his family has no SRP to show.
“Instead, his own daughter Gwen squandered P800 million in the CICC (the Cebu International Convention Center) which I now call the Ruins in Mandaue, a new tourist attraction.” That is why, Osmeña said, that during Gwen’s term as governor, he joked that the SRP meant Suya Ra ang Probinsya.
“Seriously, this is a case of selective politics as NONE of the reclamation projects in Manila, Mandaue, Cebu City North (except the SRP) was approved by Congress. Yes, the SRP was part of the 15th Yen Loan that was completely approved by no less than the Philippine Congress, Senate, Neda, the President and is part of the bilateral agreement between the Republic of the Philippines and the Government of Japan.”
Osmeña also pointed out that the SRP is not a grant to the city because “we paid for it” with the city’s pro-rata share in the loan to JICA amounting to P4 billion. In addition, he said, the national government earned P2 billion in fees through the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Department of Finance.
Turning his attention to the sale made by former Michael Rama to Filinvest and the Ayala-SM consortium, Osmeña said that he has done his homework and “SM, Ayala and Filinvest are not going to steal what I worked for 20 years to give our poor high school graduates from our public schools a college education.”
Paraphrasing a popular nursery rhyme, Osmeña vowed that “all the king’s horses and all the king’s men will not stop Tommy Osmeña from putting our dream together again.”
The mayor’s concluding line will definitely not be the last one on the issue. In fact, last week, very reliable sources told me that Garcia has asked for copies of all titles to the SRP lots and of the deeds of sale and other agreements so far entered into by the city on these properties.
The elder Garcia has earlier urged the Integrated Bar and even private citizens to file a case questioning the sale of the SRP lots in order to prevent the reversion of the reclaimed lands to the national government for violation of the constitution. It looks like he’s no longer waiting for someone to take his challenge. He may initiate the legal challenge himself.
Things are beginning to look really interesting.