Davide okays Balili lot sale
Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III said he has "agreed in principle" to sell the controversial Balili property to the city of Naga.
Naga City wants to develop the property into an economic zone.
“There was already an agreement in principle that we will sell portions of Balili, kadtong land gyud dili to nga underwater of course sa Naga City. Wala pa gyud concrete gyud nga document,” Davide said.
He said he plans to meet with the Naga mayor next week to discuss the matter.
“I will be talking with them soon. I will be talking with former mayor (Val) Chiong and Mayor Kristine Chiong.
Hopefully, next week, we can schedule that,” he said.
Davide said a formal agreement will have to be put in place.
“Maybe we can begin with a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) kay, as you know, this property is a subject of a case sa Sandiganbayan. When we meet, we’ll take this up again and, hopefully, with a MOA draft already,” Davide said.
He belied allegations the provincial government did not take any action after learning of Naga City’s proposal to buy the controversial property.
“It’s not nga wa nato aksyoni. It’s just we need to study all angles. In fact, diha na gani ni-threaten, si Saavedra, to sue us if we sell the Balili like adtong sale sa CICC. We want as much as possible to avoid legal issues,” Davide said.
The province purchased the Balili property during the administration of former governor Gwendolyn Garcia. It became a subject of legal action after it was found out at least 9.4 of the 25-hectare land were underwater or had mangroves.
Earlier, Provincial General Services Office (GSO) head Jone Sepe said that while the property did not serve its original purpose, it became somehow useful to at least three offices in the provincial government: the GSO, the Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO), and the Provincial Agriculture Office (PAO).
Sepe has said that under an agreement between the Capitol and the Department of Energy (DOE), a portion of the lot is also being used as a storage area for confiscated butane canisters and other paraphernalia.
Such items, he said, need to be distanced from other materials or residential areas because they are flammable.
There, the PVO also maintains a breeding site for goats, which are distributed to local farmers, while the PAO also runs a vermiculture production facility in the area, as well as a demonstration area to culture bangus.