Wednesday, April 30, 2008 Mayor blank on Agora BOT deal By Danilo V. Adorador III
"WHAT contract?"
A flustered Cagayan de Oro Mayor Constantino Jaraula retorted when inquired about the reported final deal on the multimillion facelift of Agora Market and Terminal.
A final, signed contract would seal the P255 million Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) deal between the local government and project proponent Mega Integrated Agro-Livestock Farm Corporation, owned by businessman Hong See.
See's "unsolicited proposal" to re-build the aging market and terminal complex was approved last year, when no one contested it after several publications.
"I can't understand why I should approve something that didn't pass on my table," Jaraula told Sun.Star in an interview, in which Jaraula addressed this paper's written query on the supposed finalization of the Agora BOT agreement.
Pointing to the stacks of papers on his table, the mayor said See's proposal has not yet reached his end "so how can there be a final draft contract?"
He added: "I have not yet perused any of it. I have not seen the documents."
Agora's planned redevelopment has become much talked-about because of the potential controversies it carries: political observers say it would test the Jaraula-Emano alliance, while the opposition say it would open a floodgates of legal cases against ruling administration.
Vice Mayor Vicente Emano, Jaraula's immediate predecessor has hinted growing impatience with the project's postponement. The Agora BOT deal was conceived during his administration, and since Jaraula took the reigns, the project has taken the least priority.
"Wala ako kasabot ngano nga dili pa kini masugdan nga unta anaa na ang proponente nga andam na motrabaho kon tugotan (I don't understand why this couldn't take off despite the fact that the proponent is ready to work on the project if allowed)," said Emano in a press release early this month.
Whether or not this will set Jaraula and Emano on a collision course, neither of the two hinted at least publicly. On separate occasions lately, both officials even expressed admiration for each other.
Last week, Jaraula defended Emano over the bungled P49 million rural telephone project, which was initiated during the latter's scandal-ridden administration.
But the mayor has been cautious in defending his decision to shelve the Agora deal, saying he prefer to tackle the problems of Cogon and Carmen public markets--both under controversial BOT contracts.
The mayor said it was important to financially rejuvenate the two markets first, with the Cogon market currently being subsidized by the local government. The subsidy, which is running in millions, arises from the BOT provision that entitles the proponent to recover losses once the markets turn in profits below the agreed projected income.
Under a peculiar BOT set-up, Cogon's wet market section is shared between the city government and the contractor.
Graft charges have been filed against Emano and other officials in connection with Cogon market's BOT contract.
Opposition Councilors Zaldy Ocon, Teodulfo Lao and Roger Abaday said they will go to courts if the administration pushes the Agora deal.
The market, they said, could be redeveloped at a lesser cost, and not through BOT, under which the control of the market is held by the contractor for over 20 years.
