Rama Orders City Admin to Remove CPA Fence Anew

Despite of the second verbal order of Mayor Rama to Cebu City Administrator Jose Marie Poblete to immediately remove the metal fence illegally constructed by the Cebu Port Authority (CPA) near the old Compania Maritima building, Poblete still want to solve the matter in a peaceful manner.

Rama ordered Poblete to immediately comply with his order to remove the metal fence, but the city administrator said he want to meet again with the port officials so he could personally relay to them the directive of the mayor and to discuss on how to settle the issue.

“Amo usa ni nga lingkoran balik with OBO (Office of the Building Officials) and maybe with CPA. Dili pa ko kasulti kon kanus-a g’yud gub-on but klaro man ang sugo sa mayor and his basis for such order so ato g’yud ni ipatuman after mahan-ay ang tanan. As to the tarpaulin, ako lang na itugyan ni Raquel Arce and I think iya na ‘sad ni gi-coordinate with CPA,” Poblete said.

Tensions erupted between the City Hall personnel and CPA port police personnel, assisted by private security guards, when the latter prevented the city employees from removing the huge tarpaulin that CPA installed at their claimed lot near Compania Maritima.

The huge tarpaulin marked with “CEBU PORT AUTHORITY PROPERTY” is presently installed just a few meters away from the Senior Citizens Park across the City Hall Executive building along M.C. Briones Street.

To prevent trouble, the city government employees who were tasked to comply with the mayor’s order left the place. But Rama advised Poblete to tap the Cebu City policemen if it would be necessary.

“Naa ta’y polis. Anha nato diha makita kon kinsa ang authority ang polis ba o sila,” Rama told Poblete. But Poblete said he will just wait for the result of their next meeting with CPA officials.

When Poblete and CPA Chief Legal Officer Yosup Uckung met for the first time, it was agreed to adopt a status quo, meaning the CPA will suspend their fencing of the property around Compania Maritima building and the city will not remove the existing fence.

The National Building Code of the Philippines provides that “no person, firm or corporation, including any agency or instrumentality of the government shall erect, construct, alter, reppair, move, convert —without first obtaining a building permit from OBO.”

Uckung also suggested that they will invite Rama to attend during the next meeting of the CPA Board of Directors so they can discuss the matter, but the mayor turned down the suggestion. “Nganong makig-meet man ko nila?” he said.

Rama questioned the claim of CPA officials that they are the owner of the three parcels of lands near the old building of Compania Maritima that was reclaimed during the construction of the tunnel.

Uckung claimed that the three parcels of lands had been turned over to the CPA by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) after the completion of the tunnel project, but Rama again questioned it by saying “Naa sila’y dukomento nga ila na? Ang DPWH bay tag-iya sa yuta?”

The law provides that all reclaimed lands are automatically owned by the national government through the Department of Natural Resources (DENR) and it can be declared only as alienable if applications are being made and approved by the President.