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The residents of barangay Apas in Cebu City are seeing green.
Green ribbons will be tied in trees, homes, stores, schools and vehicles in barangay Apas to symbolize hope that the 1,200 families will not be evicted from their homes despite the transfer of the donated military lots to the Province of Cebu.
The Green Ribbon Campaign, which will be launched today, is one of a series protest actions against moves to evict the families from their homes.
Rosalio Labrado, who has been a resident of sitio Mahayahay for 33 years, said it would be difficult for him to leave and see the house built by his father demolished.
?I grew up here. This is where my father and my wife died,? said Labrado.
Labrado was among the 1,200 families who were listed as beneficiaries of Presidential Proclamation No. 409 that declared 47 hectares of the province-owned lot in Apas as social housing site.
The lot is part of the 80 hectares donated to the Armed Forces some 50 years ago and is where Camp Lapu-Lapu, headquarters of the Central Command is located.
Last Monday, Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro signed a memorandum of agreement for the return of military-occupied property to the provincial government.
The MOA signals the start of the eventual transfer of all military facilities to Lapu-Lapu City and Tuburan town, with buildings to be reconstructed by the provincial government, which intends to use the prime land in Apas for economic enterprises.
Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal said he sympathized with families who would be affected by the transfer but could not just intervene, lest he be accused of violating the separation of Church and the State.
?I hope they would be able to settle the issue and be mature enough to solve the problem,? he added.
