Apartment owner Patricia Cuaycong called on the city government yesterday to act on her seven-year-old complaint against illegal structures constructed in the creek near the Mambuloc Bridge in Galo-Gatuslo Streets, Bacolod City

. Cuaycong, who owns the five-door apartment in the area said its tenants complained of the unbearable smell coming from the creek and the exposed toilets of occupants of the illegal structures.

A letter sent to then Mayor Oscar Verdeflor, dated September 16, 2000, failed to get any response, Cuaycong said. The same thing happened when she wrote another letter to then Mayor Luzviminda Valdez in 2002. She also tried to get the attention of Barangay 10 chairman Felixberto Verba and the Office of the Community Environment and Natural Resources, until finally, in 2005, her complaint was endorsed to the Bacolod Housing Authority for inspection.

In an inspection report, Jeah Oppura of BHA confirmed that the location of the houses is hazardous to the health of the families occupying them.

The report was endorsed to the City Legal Office which confirmed that the structures are not only dangerous but also detrimental to the health of the concerned families.

However, the CLO recommended the problem back to the BHA for inclusion of the occupants of these structures in its relocation program, Cuaycong expressed hopes that the city government will do something, not only to address the problem on illegal structures but to clear the waterways to prevent flooding.

CALL TO SP

Meanwhile, former Bacolod Councilor Lyndon Caña appealed to the Sangguniang Panlungsod not to pursue the remedy of judicial determination of fair rental for the use of the ports at the reclamation area in a letter to the SP dated July 25, 2007.

Caña said that it is a very dangerous move that might mean that the city is waiving what it is entitled to under the law as owner of the port.

Caña said it might put the city in a very long and extended litigation which would outlast several administrations and terms of office as the case goes through the route of the judicial process. He also suggested that the city assiduously, seriously, aggressively, assert and pursue the titling of the ports.

City Legal Officer Allan Zamora yesterday said the compliant for judicial determination is ready for filing once the Mayor gives the go signal. Since the resolution passed by the Sangguniang Panlungsod authorized the Mayor to file a case, it is already a policy direction of the Council that should be implemented by the executive.

However, Zamora said the Mayor can still suggest other options like the city getting a share in the wharfage, arrastre and usage fees, which were considered during the renegotiation between the city and BREDCO.

He said the case of judicial determination does not prevent the SP from pursuing the "takeover ordinance."*CGS

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