CEBU CITY – The city government here is eyeing a land-swap deal with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to recover properties it earlier donated to be used for the local housing project.
Acting Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia said the local housing initiatives were in response to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s directive under the Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino (4PH) to address the country’s housing backlog by building one million units annually until 2028.
Garcia said the Cebu City Planning Office is expected to submit the development plan for the proposed Budlaan Valley Resettlement Area and the Camp Marina Resettlement to the Task Force Pabahay soon.
The task force awaits a legal opinion from the City Legal Office regarding the “land swapping” plan between the DENR-Central Visayas and the recovery of donated land from the Evangelical Free Church, as the church failed to meet the conditions outlined in the donation agreement.
The city government’s proposal is for the DENR-7 to relocate its Regional Wildlife Sanctuary Center from Camp Marina in Barangay Kalunasan to Barangay Guba, as the property will be used for the government’s housing program.
Lawyer Ronald Anthony Librando, executive director of Cebu City Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor, said that negotiations with those affected by the Budlaan Valley Resettlement Area had started, and they were only waiting for the development plan.
The city government’s donated property consisted of 1.1 hectares now occupied by the DENR and 4.3 hectares by the Evangelical Free Church.
“So, we are just waiting for the City Legal’s recommendation on whether our proposed reversion of the donated property from the Evangelical Free Church has any legal impediments,” Librando said. (PNA)