A more than 15-year-old land dispute ended for more than 3,200 families in Cebu City after the House Oversight Committee on Housing convened by former President and Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was able to gather all stakeholders to waive their claims over their property in their favor.
Speaker Arroyo had convened the Oversight Committee on Housing, chaired by Rep. Alfredo Benitez of Negros Occidental, to resolve the land dispute in Brgy. Apas, Cebu City to enable the urban poor housing beneficiaries, mostly composed of families of soldiers, to get their titles over their property.
During hearing held at the Central Command in Barangay Apas Monday afternoon, Arroyo personally invited Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana to sign the compromise agreement in favor of the informal settlers. It was the last act required to make the compromise agreement effective. It was earlier signed by the Provincial Government of Cebu, as owner of the land, and the City of Government of Cebu which has jurisdiction over the residents.
The signing was witnessed by Speaker Arroyo to the jubilation of the hundreds of residents who attended the hearing.
The land in Brgy. Apas has been owned by the Cebu provincial government since 1918.
In 1959, the province of Cebu donated a portion of their land to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), consisting of 47 parcels of land. The donation had a condition that, in case of abandonment, non-use, or use other than military purposes, the ownership of the land shall automatically be reverted to the provincial government.