Capitol gives up in Fuente ‘battle’

After almost a decade of legal battle, the Cebu provincial government has waived its white flag in favor of the Cebu City government following the court's ruling that the latter owns the historic Fuente Osmeña Circle.

Governor Hilario Davide III said he will direct his legal officer Orvi Ortega not to file an appeal or motion for reconsideration to put an end to this land dispute.

"The province and city should have not fought over the property. It should not be an issue. That's for everybody. Nobody should claim ownership over that because Cebuanos own that," he said.

To recall, Cebu Province sued the city government and Mayor Tomas Osmeña in 2007 for quieting of title and recovery of possession on two properties covered by Transfer Certificate of Title Nos. 122635 and RT5346 in the name of the province.

The province asked Osmeña to refrain from exercising acts of ownership and administration over the historic place, whose construction started on January 30, 1910 and was finished on February 12, 1912.

Davide said the property should not have been a subject of legal cases in the first place.

"Ang importante ang kalambuan sa matag Sugboanon," he added.

Davide recalled that his grandfather used to bring him, his brother and cousins to Fuente for an afternoon walk. He said an area where Cyberzone and Chong Hua Hospital are currently located used to be a playground in the early 1970s.

"I remember, I was still in my youth, my lolo would bring me and my brother and cousins there. There used to be swings, seesaw and slides," he said.

The Fuente Osmeña Circle was built on February 13, 1912. Its fountain commemorates the building of the Buhisan Dam.

It was admitted by the province that the historical park, originally known as "La Traida de Aguas de Osmeña," was created as a tribute to a great Cebu nationalist-Don Sergio Osmeña Sr.

Since 1912, Cebu City government, formerly known as The Municipality of Cebu, managed and maintained the historical park.

The Regional Trial Court has recently ruled that the city government really owns Fuente.

In an August 5, 2016 decision, Judge Generosa Labra especially said that the Capitol has neither claimed ownership nor possession over the area until it filed the complaint before the court.

Labra noted that there was no land title at the time of the completion of the park in 1912.

She said that the subject property is under the territorial boundaries of the city government. The province, she further said, did not have any title of the property when its construction was completed.

Labra said the province did not have the power to build and maintain the park, which is under the territorial jurisdiction of the city, which was then a municipality.

The titles that the province got in its favor, Labra said, had "no legal nor factual basis," thus null and void.