Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte has allowed the continued use by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) of a city-owned lot being used by the agency as staging area for its flood control equipment.
Engr. Baltazar Melgar, head of the MMDA’s Flood Control Management Service, said Belmonte granted MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando ’s proposed joint usage of the 4,232-square meter lot between the MMDA and the city government.
Melgar said the city government agreed that maintaining the MMDA’s flood control facilities and equipment at the subject property will directly benefit the residents of Quezon City.
“As far as we are concerned, this matter has already been resolved. The lot will now be jointly used both by the MMDA and the Quezon City government,” he pointed out.
Melgar stressed that there was never an agreement wherein the MMDA would have to pay a rental fee of P200,000 a month for the use of the lot, as alleged by Rolando Montiel, head of the city’s General Services Department.
Montiel claimed the MMDA owes the city government at least P6 million in rent since November 2006, when the 25-year agreement between Quezon City and the MMDA involving the use of the property supposedly expired.
The disputed lot is part of the 53,418-square meter property the city government bought from the Government Service Insurance System in 1961.
The property is located along Scout Reyes Street in Barangay Paligsahan and is being used by the MMDA’s First and Second Quezon City Flood Control Operations districts.
In a letter to Belmonte, Fernando said the location of the subject property is very strategic for fast and prompt deployment of manpower and equipment during emergency situations and regular field operations.
“All flood control equipment and personnel stationed thereat are assigned solely for the service of the residents of Quezon City,” the MMDA chief told Belmonte.
Fernando has written Belmonte in response to the city government’s notice for the MMDA to vacate the lot; he said the Authority does not have any property in Quezon City suited for relocating the flood control personnel and equipment.
MMDA
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