The Alliance of Barangay Apas Community Associations Inc. (ABACA) is willing to justly pay the Cebu Provincial Government for occupying the lots owned by the Capitol.
Barangay Captain Virgil Cabigon revealed this to Sugbo News after a meeting with Gov. Gwen Garcia on Friday, May 26.
ABACA is a federation composed of at least eight home-owners associations currently occupying lots owned by the Capitol. These lots have been declared as a site for socialized housing by Presidential Proclamation 409 signed by then president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2003.
Sugbo News learned that a total of 1,061 ABACA residents have been identified, spanning across 10 sitios in the barangay occupying about 10 hectares in area size, Cabigon said.
Gov. Gwen said she would ask Pag-IBIG Fund to appraise the value of these lots. While Pag-IBIG will pay the Capitol up front for the fair market value of the lots, ABACA members will be paying to Pag-IBIG at more liberal terms.
This is the same scheme Capitol is adopting for OPRRA and Kalunasan residents who are also residing on Capitol lots.
Capitol plans to develop a socialized housing project for ABACA residents, replete with road network and utility lines.
The lots occupied by ABACA residents are part of the Visayas Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The Department of National Defense earlier signed a compromised agreement in 2019 that would enable the residents to negotiate with the Capitol for payment of the lots they are occupying.
The meeting on Friday was joined by regional officials of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development, NHA, Brgy. Apas officials, and representatives of the homeowners groups. | Carlo Lorenciana