Rama to CPA: Collection of parking fees at Compania Maritima is ‘stupid’

The iconic Compania Maritima building is seen in this photo taken on November 11, 2021.| CDN Digital photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — If he were to have it his way, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama wanted the police to intervene and stop the Cebu Port Authority (CPA) from collecting parking fees for the use of open spaces near Compania Maritima.

Rama said that even the nearby M.L. Quezon Road is now being used by CPA as pay parking area.

“Tell them that’s stupidity. That is [a] highly stupid act…Let them get out. I want them out. Let the police come in, and they cannot take control of the road. It’s not their road. That’s Manuel L. Quezon Road. It’s not CPA road,” the mayor said in a press conference on Monday, Feb. 6.

In a separate interview, CPA information officer Mary Knoll Bolasa told CDN Digital that they started collecting parking fees in the area last Jan, 16, 2023,  after a writ of preliminary injunction was issued in their favor.

READ: Court grants CPA’s petition for Preliminary Injunction over Compania Maritima legal battle

“What we can say for now is that the area [that is being used for pay parking] is within the CPA premises and one of the designated pay parking areas of the CPA,” Bolasa added.

She, however, begged off from commenting on Rama’s public pronouncement, asking the police to intervene on the matter.

This was not the first time that Rama blew his top on CPA.

Rama, earlier, called out CPA for deploying guards around the disputed Compania Martima, a historic property that is located just across the executive building at the Cebu City Hall.

At the same time, he also publicly declared “war” with CPA following their disagreements on the ownership and use of the Compania Maritima.

Branch 10 of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Cebu City has granted the petition filed by CPA for the issuance of a writ of Preliminary Injunction regarding the long-disputed Compania Maritima area.

On December 23, 2022, Judge Soliver Peras directed the Cebu City government to “restore and maintain the Republic and CPA’s peaceful possession and occupation of the entire Compania Maritima Area.”

With the writ, improvement works that were being undertaken by Megawide Development Corp., including the development of the Puso Village in the Carbon district, were put on hold.

CPA also posted enlarged copies of the writ of preliminary injunction on the walls of Compania Maritima and deployed security guards to secure its premise.

Asked if he already talked to Megawide officials on the matter, Rama said: “[for] any investor, there is always caveat emptor [buyer beware]. There will always be such a thing as a hazard of the trade or the unpredictability of what you’ve been entering into and them having been in the business for quite a time.”

READ MORE:

Rama slams CPA for deploying guards at disputed Compania Maritima

Rama asserts: Lot near Compania Maritima is owned by government

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