SETTLERS in the Osmeña Shrine in Barangay Kalunasan filed a petition for declaratory relief before the court following the move of the Cebu City Government to clear structures built in the property.
While they asked the court to rule if the clearing order issued by Mayor Tomas Osmeña is applicable in forest land such as the shrine, the settlers, through lawyer Escolastico Daitol, also filed a separate complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman.
The settlers filed a complaint for grave abuse of authority and irregularities in the performance of their official functions against Osmeña and Abel Diloy, chief of the Prevention, Restoration, Order, Beautification and Enhancement (Probe) of the city.
In their petition for declaratory relief, affected families want to court to determine if their houses are covered by the provisions of the National Building Code, which requires structure owners to secure building permits.
In a report over radio DyHP, Daitol said structures owned by his clients are too small, that is why they wanted the court to determine if it is covered by the national police.
Based on the clearing order signed by Osmeña last Sept. 29, demolition in Osmeña Shrine is pursuant to the National Building Code.
Since Monday last week, Probe dismantled some 300 illegal structures built in the shrine after owners fail to secure permission from the City to build their houses there.
Osmeña, in his news conference last Thursday, maintained his stand that the City owns the 42,687-sq.m. Osmeña Shrine property.
The mayor said the City did not donate the property to the Evangelical Coalition of Cebu Inc. (ECCI) in 2010.
But even before Osmeña sat down as mayor, a demolition was already done in the area last June after then acting Margarita “Margot” Osmeña ordered the clearing since the families don’t have the City Government’s permission to occupy the area.
