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The University of the Philippines in the Visayas Cebu College (UPVCC) is willing to negotiate for a lease agreement with the informal settlers and the Cebu City government, says the university's legal counsel.
Lawyer Jesus Isidoro Atoc said one way of solving the issue with the informal settlers in the UP property in barangay Lahug, Cebu City is to have a three-party agreement between the university, the Cebu City government and the settlers.
?UP cannot complain (if the settlers would pay for a lease of the property they are residing) I believe. But we should have a three-party agreement that in the event that they will refuse to comply, it is the local government that will evict them," Atoc told CEBU DAILY NEWS.
Atoc said asserting one's right over one's property was never immoral.
Some urban poor groups will hold a silent protest outside the UP school grounds at 10 a.m. today to condemn the school's move to evict residents after a fire destroyed their houses in sitio San Jose, barangay Lahug.
"We are also willing to negotiate. But let?s agree first that they can rebuild their houses there and start our negotiation,? said Cebu City Administrator Francisco ?Bimbo? Fernandez.
Some 100 individuals from about 50 different urban poor groups, who are mostly living in province-owned lots within Cebu City suggested to Fernandez that they hold a protest action against the school's move.
Fernandez is president of the Pagtambayayong Foundation Inc. which is working on housing programs for the urban poor.
The city administrator said that although it is legal for UP to evict these 265 fire victims from the UP-owned lot, it would be immoral to do so considering that they lost thir homes in the fire.
?UP is supposed to be the hotbed of activism in the country but they were able to do this. That is a very dangerous precedent for other lot owners who want take back their property," Fernandez said.
He said they would be willing to talk with some UP officials tomorrow during the silent protest about the plight of the Cebu City residents who do not have the security of tenure.
In the meantime, the Archdiocese of Cebu has called on officials to look after the welfare of the affected residents in the property feud.
?There should be no ejection without relocation,? said Msgr. Achilles Dakay, Archdiocesan Media liaison officer.
?If it is a matter of the right of UP, who should decide (on the issue)? The courts may have to decide,? he added.
Dakay said the government should be ready with infrastructure projects that could accommodate people affected by relocation moves.
The property feud started when UP asserted its right over the sitio San Jose lot a day after a fire destroyed the houses of 265 informal settlers.
UP officials sent a letter to barangay captain Mary Ann Delos Santos asking permission to fence the lot.
She did not grant UP's request but told them that their move was untimely. She urged them to go through the normal process of eviction.
UP officials went to court and got a 20-day temporary restraining order against Delos Santos ordering her not to prevent the fencing of the UP lot.
On Wednesday, UP officials again sent a letter to Delos Santos asking for a fence permit and to help UP protect its right.
