Mylai Santos of the Green Davao Coalition (File photo)
DAVAO CITY — The 17th City Council decided not to override the veto message of city mayor Rodrigo Duterte on the 10 percent green space allocation.
Floor leader, Councilor Bernie Echavez Al-ag announced the decision of the City Council to accept the decision of the city mayor when he vetoed the amended Comprehensive Land Use Plan and Zoning Ordinance that removed the 10-percent green space provision
Al-ag has pushed for the removal of the green space provision for new subdivisions.
Mayor Duterte’s veto message dated February 19 said the amendment Ordinance No. 0487-16 is “vague and ambiguous, prejudicial to the public interest and an exercise of legislative power in ultra vires.”
Al-ag said even if they accept the mayor’s veto, they are still going to assess and pass a revised ordinance before making a resolution to the veto message of the Mayor.
Davao City Councilor Danilo Dayanghirang said that they will accept the veto of the mayor to avoid misinterpretation.
Dayanghirang also added: “The Council positions itself to re-file it and some proposal will require the open space as mandatory to plant at least 50 percent of all open spaces, but not necessarily that we add 10 percent because the renters are the ones to be afffected because they can not avail of a housing unit. So we will re-pass it with some changes.”
Dayanghirang said “the price of home lots will go up. You can not afford it if you are an ordinary employee and you’re only receiving P12,000 and a P7,000 amortization for 25 yearsthe renters so that they can have also some house in the different subdivision in the city,” he said.
He said there should be a specific portion of the 30 percent provision for open space where trees will be planted. He said there are no specification of number of trees and area to be planted.
“The 30 percent as provided by law is to be developed and a certain percentage shall be mandatory in planting trees by the developer or by the home owners,” Dayanghirang said.
Meanwhile, the environmental groups were grateful and gave flowers to the councilors.
Save Green Coalition member and director of Ecoteneo, Carmela Marie M. Santos thanked the 30,000 residents who signed both online and actual copies of the petition for the mayor to veto the amendment in the Comprehensive Land Use Plan (2013-2022).
“Ecoteneo will continue to be an active member of Save Green Davao Coalition, in fact we will have a meeting for the preparation of the election,” Santos said.
She added that they will discuss how to strengthen their stand on saving the green spaces here in Davao to avoid any sudden actions just like what happened before.
“Sabi naman nila na meron daw babagohin, icoconvene naman nila sa committee, at tayo naman daw ay maiimbitahan doon so natutuwa tayo sa ganun,” she said.
The Save Green Davao Coalition plans to focus now on the upcoming election while waiting for the resolution to be made by the City council. (davaotoday.com)
