Leyte gov’t reiterates ownership of Tacloban park

TACLOBAN CITY, Aug. 10 -- The Leyte provincial board has urged the provincial legal office to update the status of the legal battle between the provincial government of Leyte and the Tacloban city government over the ownership of the Balyuan Park here.

Leyte Vice Governor Carlo Loreto on Thursday said the provincial board has passed a resolution for the provincial legal team to update  the status of the case and enforce the decisions made. 

The case has sat on appeal filed by the city government after mediation between the two local governments failed in 2010.

It can be recalled that Leyte and Tacloban City were in a  legal battle in 2009 over the Balyuan property after the city government refused to relinquish the property led by then-mayor Alfred Romualdez.

Then-governor Carlos Jericho Petilla reclaimed the property after a signed August 26, 2004 agreement with then-mayor Alfredo Romualdez to use the property has lapsed under the five-year agreement.

Loreto said the province's stand remain that the property is owned by the provincial government and that the city government should honor its 2004 agreement it entered into with the province and should have relinquished it in 2009.

“Otherwise, they could have offered instead other options such as renting, if they still really need to use the property,” Loreto added.

Ownership of the 6,941 square-meter Balyuan Park went into court following a squabble between the city and the province, when then-mayor Romualdez,  husband of incumbent mayor, Cristina,  refused to allow the province to utilize its streets for the Pintados-Kasadyaan Festival parade in June 2009.

 In July 2009, the province started to provide the city notices to vacate the area including other properties at Kanhuraw Hill where many of the city government’s offices are located.

Differences between the two rival political clans heated up some years back, but was heavily observed to have laid low during the start of the incumbency of Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla and Mayor Cristina Romualdez, of the province and the city government, respectively.

However, Loreto was quick to say, updating the case’s status is solely for the purpose of enforcing what is mandated by the court.

The Balyuan area houses a building where the many of the city offices are located. The multi-million Balyu-an amphitheater is also located in the same contested area together with a convention area-cum-training center. (Ahlette C. Reyes/PNA)