DAVAO CITY — The provincial governor of Davao del Norte has stepped into the road right of way problem involving the P19.32-billion Samal Island Davao Connector or the Samal-Davao bridge project as one property owner refuses the offer of the Philippine government to pay the portion of his property which will be affected by the project.,
Engr. Rodrigo delos Reyes, the project director of the SIDC connector sought the help of Governor Edwin Jubahib to help them in settling the RROW problem involving the remaining property owner who until now refuses to accept the offer of the government.
If the property owner continues to refuse, delos Reyes said “The government has to resort to expropriation measures because the project has timelime to beat and the funds are already available, the government has allocated P1-billion for the RROW problem, but we are still continuously negotiating and we are hopeful that we will reach an agreement.”
But if the property owner refuses to accept the offer and an agreement is not reached, delos Reyes revealed “Maari pong yan mag last recourse, pero tuloy tuloy naman ang negotiation (It maybe the last recourse, but, we are continuously negotiating).”
The property owner invoked the Writ of Kalikasan as among the reasons of his protest against the project.
The said property owner, is among the families who refused to accept the offer of the government but as it is now, he is the remaining owner who refused to give in for the project.
The property is located in the Samal Island portion of the project and under the political leadership of Governor Jubahib.
Delos Reyes explained to the Governor that thee Davao property owners have agreed and they have paid them for the property but the lone Davao del Norte owner still refused the offer which causes the delay of the project implementation.
To this, Jubahib said he will meet the landowner and will listen to them “I will meet them, and I will listen to them and hopefully we can reach an agreement so that the project will culminate because it is a loan and the government pays the interest even if the project has yet to officially take off.”
