Is Camias Café a settlement in the offing?

Did I read right that Regional Trial Court Judge Generosa Labra has ordered the Cebu City Zoning Board and the lawyers of businessman Adrian Lee to amicably settle the case related to the closure of his building on Don Jose Avila Street in Barangay Capitol Site? If this is true, Mayor Michael Rama is lucky that the RTC wants this case settled rather than proceed to the trial proper where the chance would be his men in the Office of the Building Official may end up in jail because of this faux pas.

This is a simple story of a person who allegedly used his influence and friendship (they both worked with an Aboitiz Company) with Mayor Mike Rama to widen Don Jose Avila Street so that in doing so, the frontage of his property would open it up for commercial application because his lot was blocked by the property of Mr. Adrian Lee.

But my sources told me that long before Lee bought this property, the owners of the lot fronting his property tried to sell it to him for P20,000 per square meter. But Mr. Antonio Lozada probably thought that if widening would pursue along Don Jose Avila Street there would be no need to purchase the lot that blocked his property. Alas, he was totally wrong because there was no such widening of Don Jose Avila Street in Cebu City as there are priorities for street widening and this street is not even in the low priority.

Then Mr. Lee ended up buying this property and got a locational clearance and building permits from OBO and then two years later, the same OBO sought to revoke the clearances. This is where things went awry! Mr. Lee elevated his case to Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson, who the other week, denied for lack of merit the motion filed by the City Legal Office that sought to reverse the public work's decision that upheld the validity of Lee's permit.

Apparently report said Engr. Poblete did not even care to conduct an inspection and a hearing on this revocation and merely relied on the resolution by the Zoning Board. I found the resolution very faulty because they had no quorum when they passed it. How can three people decide to revoke that resolution when technically they could not even hold a meeting for lack of quorum? Mind you, this is the first time I ever heard of such an incident, and now cases have been filed against Rama and the OBO.

As we wrote earlier, as a good friend of Rama, I warned the mayor that this case would get him into big trouble. But alas, Rama refused to heed my brotherly advice. With the DPWH siding with Lee and telling the OBO that their revocation was invalid, this is a huge advantage for Lee and more trouble for Rama, especially that he is up for reelection and many people now have perceived him as an official that no longer listens to good advice especially from me who supported him.

I gathered that tomorrow the OBO would have a meeting to solve this issue. I had a chance meeting last Sunday with our good friends, Rene and his wife Cebu City Administrator Lucille Mercado who also believe that Rama should do the right thing. I hope that we would all end up saying, "All's well that ends well." But the ball is in Rama's court. Will he show to the Cebuanos that he would protect the Rama family and do what a true public servant ought to do? Abangan!

*** Last Monday's headline news from The FREEMAN that quoted DPWH-7 Regional Director Ador Canlas that the repairs of the old Mactan Bridge has been put on hold until the Metro Cebu Water District fixes their water pipes that brings water to Mactan Island that serves practically half of the population living there. This is good and bad news simply because we really don't know whether the integrity of the old bridge is sound or not, or whether it can stand a few months in heavy traffic until MCWD gets its acts together?

Mind you, 15-years ago, during my stint as chairman of the Regional Development Council's Infrastructure Utilities Council when we had a series of meetings during the construction of the Fernan Bridge (it was opened on August 1999) we were supposed to have a water main from MCWD pass through the Fernan Bridge. But I don't recall if that project pushed through. So from the looks of it, MCWD must have put all its eggs in one basket using only the old bridge to link its main water lines from mainland Cebu to Mactan Island then that is a dangerous proposition for the people living in Mactan who need all that water.

So now the ball is in MCWD's court to tell us when they can fix their water pipes so that finally DPWH can proceed with fixing whatever road repairs are needed for the old bridge. Then I suggest that they talk to Manny V. Pangilinan who has bagged the contract to construct the 3rd Mactan Bridge to have a new water line that would link mainland Cebu to Cordova.

*** For email responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mozcom.com or vsbobita@gmail.com. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.