Heirs of a family who claimed to be the owners of about one-hectare lot where a school occupies in Barangay Pajac, Lapu-Lapu City showed documents to support that their claim is valid.

Noel Alegres Cosep and his brother, Danilo, showed copies of two Transfer Certificate of Title that they possess as proof that they are true owners of the lot where Abuno Elementary School and Abuno High School are located.

Their legal counsel, Alfredo Bensi, accused that the Deed of Donation held by the Department of Education Lapu-Lapu City Division and the Lapu-Lapu City Government are bogus.

Atty. Bensi questioned that in 48 years, given there is a grain of truth that the lot was acquired through a deed of donation, there was no effort from the alleged buyers to register the deed of donation, or to seek processing of land title.

Bensi said they would rather file a complaint at the Office of Education Secretary Sonny Angara instead of in court.

Noel argued that they have observed the proper process. On September 2024, they sent a formal communication to the Local Government Unit (LGU) of Lapu-Lapu City through a negotiation letter. They said they did not receive a reply so they sent another letter-request for a special open forum. Again, they said, they did not get an answer from the LGU. They sent this time a notice to padlock. They showed a receipt of the letter-request to prove that a copy was received formally at the City Hall.

To recall, a CCTV footage of Barangay Pajac showed seven persons who locked the main gate and a smaller gate of the said schools at 9:30 a.m. on November 1, 2024.

However, Noel said they did not lock the two gates without notifying the guard on duty.

A female security guard was locked in on that day. She was rescued in the afternoon on the same day by personnel of the Office of the City Mayor and Barangay Pajac.

Later, Juanita Cantila, the lady guard, affirmed that the men indeed told her they would have the two gates locked (the main gate and a small gate beside used as passageway for persons).

Mayor Junard Chan said that the heirs should have filed a case in court if they insist on their claims.

The City Government of Lapu-Lapu and DepEd Lapu-Lapu City Division mulled on filing cases against the group of men that led eventually to the illegal detention of the lady guard.

Noel admitted leading the padlocking of the gates and said that they are prepared to face the cases against them.

The claimants put up a tarpaulin in October 2023 that announced of the private ownership of the said lot by the heirs of a certain Marciano Alegres.

According to Atty. James Sayson, city attorney, it was only in September 2024 that the heirs sent formal communication on their claim and that he was able to talk and explain to Noel on the position of the LGU.

He said it is somewhat perplexing that the group pursued their claim and resorted to locking the gate.

“Sa stand sa city, wala gyud sila’y right. Based on the documents nga atong gihuptan, ang syudad man sa Lapu-Lapu maoy tag-iya sa yuta, nya ang DepEd Lapu-Lapu maoy tag-iya sa building,” Atty. Sayson said.

Meanwhile, Atty. Maricar Runez, DepEd Lapu-Lapu City Division legal counsel, said they have documents to prove it was on June 1960 that one Fructuoso Fuentes, then Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) president purchased the lot from a certain Cornelia Alegres and that Fuentes executed a Deed of Donation on the lot to the local government. 

“Nag-execute si Fructuoso og Deed of Donation in favor of the City of Lapu-Lapu, [in] 1966, August, mao ni karon  basis sa atong giila nga tag-iya sa yuta kon asa gitukod ang Abuno Elementary ug Abuno High School kay mao gyud ang City Government of Lapu-Lapu,” Atty. Runez emphasized.