CH not obligated to give lot to DOH?

Cebu City Councilor Mary Ann delos Santos, deputy mayor for health, has drafted a proposed ordinance allowing the City to transfer ownership of two hectares of land in the South Road Properties (SRP) to the Department of Health (DOH).

The councilor said that the City and DOH had entered into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on Sept. 3, 2007.

Under the MOA, the City agreed to give DOH two hectares at the SRP, while DOH agreed to the amendment of Presidential Executive Order (EO) 43 to transfer the administration of Kawit Island to Cebu City.

DOH had also not objected to the issuance of a presidential proclamation of a special patent for the island in favor of the City.

Issued in 1904, EO 43 had declared Kawit Island solely for use as a quarantine zone and maritime hospital by the chief quarantine officer of the health department.

On May 9, 2008, then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued Presidential Proclamation 1505, declaring the island as alienable and disposable.

But opposition Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia raised concerns regarding the effectivity of the proposed measure.

“During our committee hearing on the P18-billion Kawit Joint Venture, it was pointed out that the EO supersedes the MOA between Cebu City and DOH. With that said, it has rendered the MOA ineffective. If it’s ineffective, the City Government does not have anymore obligation to transfer the properties to DOH. This is a legal question I’m asking,” he said.

But for majority leader Margarita Osmeña, it was a matter of “perfecting” the proclamation.

“When the presidential proclamation came out giving us full ownership without any conditions of the eight hectares of Kawit Island, that was it. But prior to that, we already had the MOA. The reason that the proclamation was done was because two hectares were already given to them. What we’re doing, I think again, is just perfecting it,” she said.