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Thursday, February 24, 2005
Mongaya: Will SRP investors come on time?
By Anol Mongaya
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is confident that investors will immediately flock to the South Reclamation Project (SRP) once it is titled. The influx of investors would ease the pressure on the city to cough up money to pay the P6-billion loan.
Thus, he is blaming the difficulty Cebu City now faces to the gambit of Rep. Eddie Gullas in getting a piece of the SRP action without sharing in the loan payments.
But some quarters do not share the mayor’s confidence in getting the needed money from SRP investors in record time once the titling issue is settled.
According to the mayor, 16 companies have expressed interest in locating at the SRP. Expressing interest, however, is still far from the actual shelling out of millions of pesos as locators. Observers pointed to the North Reclamation Project of Tom’s father, the Serging Osmeña. I wonder how many expressed interest but did not push through with their plans of locating in that area.
Considering the need for City Hall to jack up taxes to pay the multi-billion peso loan, investors may want to look for alternatives to the SRP like the Mandaue Reclamation Project. Taxes in Mandaue are low and I have this impression that development plans for its reclamation area will be finished first.
I don’t know if Mayor Osmeña is turning the right screws in his fight against Gullas over Talisay’s claim to part of the SRP. The congressman certainly is not hurt if the mayor goes after vendors and vehicle owners from Talisay.
President Gloria Arroyo’s recent SRP declaration also does not have a bearing to the titling issue.
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Politicians were the ones that allegedly eased out of office City Prosecutor Cezar Tajanlangit, who recently announced his resignation. From talks in coffee shops in recent months, I agree with Mayor Osmeña who was quoted saying, “there’s more to this than meets the eye.”
The pressure on Tajanlangit increased right after the expose of the Devinadera case and his role in making it happen. The grapevine had linked him with the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association, a Mindanao politician and some businessmen. Lately, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez reportedly tightened the screws even more.
But Tajanlangit, whom I met in a coffee shop last year, is certainly a lucky guy. He was accepted by the US Department for Homeland Security. This is not a mere graceful exit as others want to describe his departure.
(superbalita@sunstar.com.ph or anol_cebu@hotmail.com/ 0917-9761193)
(February 24, 2005 issue)
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