By NITZ ARANCON
Correspondent
MAYOR Oscar Moreno has tasked city hall’s building officials and lawyers to look into how the local government could step in and demolish structures built by Barangay 33 chairman Conrad Lim on a reclamation area Lapasan that is in the way of a coastal road project of the national government.
“I-demolish gyud na siya. There cannot be compensation kay kanang construction diha is on a property nga dili iya (Lim),” Moreno said over the weekend.
He said he has directed local building officials and city hall’s legal officers to see how city hall could carry out a demolition using regulations and legal parameters.
He said, “I asked them to check if we can do it ourselves because we cannot wait for the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways). What if DPWH does not act on it? Who stands to lose–DPWH or the people?”
Officials said part of the Lapasan reclamation area is needed so that the DPWH could finish the coastal road project needed to decongest CM Recto Avenue and nearby areas.
Moreno said Lim has the option to voluntarily demolish the structures standing in the way of the DPWH project or wait for the government to use its powers.
“Mas maayo unta nga on his on, realizing the mistake that he committed. He will gain the support and admiration of the people,” he said.
Moreno said Lim should realize that based on the Civil Code, the disputed property in Lapasan belongs to the government.
Councilor Teodulfo Lao Jr. earlier said the reclamation area is an extension of Lim’s original property.
City engineer Roland Pacuribot said the property is “part of the sea” and therefore, a public domain. He said the reclamation project was undertaken without government permission.
Moreno maintained that the government has no legal basis in paying Lim because the reclamation was “illegal.”
The DPWH said last week that Lim secured an amnesty from the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) after he developed the area but city hall officials argued that “amnesty is not a permit.”
Moreno explained, “Na-a man tay principle nga ‘the accessory follows the principal.’ Kinsay tag-iya sa yuta, iya ang improvement diha. Di man iyang yuta, na dili na iya gihapon ang improvement diha kay di man iyang yuta.”
An exemption in the Civil Code covers “builders in good faith,” said Moreno. “But Condrad Lim is not a builder in good faith.”
Moreno explained that under the law, builders in good faith may be paid as much as 50 percent of what they spent on improvements. He said that provision does not apply to Lim.
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