Labella tells appraisal team: come up with a price now

CEBU City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella wants the local appraisal committee to determine the appraisal rate of a private property in Barangay Sapangdaku to allow the City Government to start with the lot’s expropriation proceedings.

“It would be better if they can release it, the soonest possible time,” Labella said.

The lot will be the new site for the Sapangdaku Elementary School after Mayor Michael Rama ordered the building vacated since it is located close to a river.

Right now, the school is holding classes at the Barangay Hall, which had been converted into make-shift classrooms.

After the release of the suggested appraisal rate, Labella said, the City can make a formal offer of a specific value of the private lot to its owners.

“After the formal offer, we can already proceed with the negotiations,” he said.

The appraisal will determine the acceptable rate that the City can offer to the owners of the lot.

Labella said the City will expropriate the lot owned by the heirs of Dr. Pablo Atillo after the family failed to respond to the request of the City.

The Office of the Vice Mayor has written the owners of the property twice conveying the City’s desire to buy the lot. But Labella has yet to receive a reply.

Republic Act 7160, or the Local Government Code of 1991, states that a local government unit can expropriate a property if negotiation fails.

The City, through a Sangguniang Panlungsod resolution or ordinance, may re- sort to expropriation proceedings, citing the right of eminent domain, or the right of the government to buy private property for public use.

Labella said the property of the Atillo family was the only ideal and safe site for the school.

Last week, Labella wrote lawyer Ferdinand Cañete, who chairs the local appraisal committee, and asked the body to appraise the lot including another lot in Barangay Busay which will be used as a new site of an elementary school in the area.

Jose Lao, the lot owner in Barangay Busay, has agreed to sell a portion of his property to the City Government after negotiations between the barangay and the City.

Lao proposed to sell the lot at P5,000 per square meter. But Labella said the local appraisal committee will still evaluate the rate to make sure it is acceptable for both parties.

Rama also ordered the Busay Elementary School to leave the old site because it is prone to landslides.