Saturday, June 23, 2007 City to upgrade zoo instead of giving it up
EVEN if the Cebu City Council authorized him to return the property to the Capitol, Mayor Tomas Osmeña will not turn over the seven-hectare zoo in Barangay Kaluna-san to the Province.
Instead, the mayor will expand and upgrade the facility into a “world-class” night safari, which will be operated by a private company.
Osmeña said he does not have to return the lot because it will still be used for the same purpose it was donated to the Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP).
“We are allowed to use it as a zoo. It’s part of the deal between the Province and the BSP and under that deal, the City has a seven-hectare share we can use provided it’s used for a zoo. It was covered in the deed of donation,” Osmeña said yesterday.
Earlier this year, the council passed a resolution authorizing the mayor to return the property to the Capitol since the City can no longer maintain the zoo due to financial constraints.
Osmeña and other City Hall officials already agreed with Gov. Gwen Garcia on the turnover of the lot when relations between them were still cordial.
But in his news conference yesterday, the mayor said he’s now looking at other possibilities for the zoo, and that he wants to do what’s best for residents of the city.
“I haven’t signed any document to return the lot yet, and I don’t intend to. I was given authority to turn it over to Capitol but it’s not obligatory on my part, it doesn’t mean that I have to,” he explained.
“In the past, we were willing to compromise the lot in the spirit of cooperation with the Province but that’s finished already. Now we will just look out for our own interests,” Osmeña said.
Animals
If the plan pushes through, the upgraded zoo will operate in two years’ time and will be managed and run by animal lover and businessman Robert Yupangco, owner of the Yamaha musical instruments and co-owner of the Zoobic Safari in Subic, Olongapo.
And instead of just the pigeons and monkeys currently housed in the city zoo, the facility in Kalunasan will eventually be home to 40 tigers, several lions, giraffes, bears, orangutans and other wild animals.
Osmeña met with Yupangco last Thursday and the latter expressed interest to provide the animals and facilities and operate the facility for a fee.
The mayor said the City may assist in the transport of the animals, and may also get a share of the zoo entrance fee, depending on the arrangement with Yupangco’s group.
“They prepared a business plan already... He’s excited and so am I. I think it’s good. I’ll have a world-class zoo and we can have night activities there. It will be good for the children,” said the mayor.
On Sept. 18, 1969, the Capitol donated Lot 1298 to the BSP for campsites in Kalunasan. Seven hectares, specifically a gully in the area, were excluded from the BSP’s use because the parcel was set aside for the zoo, which was at Fort San Pedro that time.
The donation contained a provision where the lot should be reverted to the Capitol’s ownership if it is no longer used as intended in the agreement. (LCR)
