Friday, June 29, 2007 Don’t change topic: Tomas asks Gwen
USING the Capitol’s term when the City Government and the Province tangled recently over the Cebu South Bus Terminal, Mayor Tomas Osmeña yesterday said that Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia is just using the South Road Properties (SRP) as a “diversionary tactic.”
He said the governor is trying to drive the Cebuanos’ attention away from the alleged corruption in the construction of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC).
“Ang iyang problem corruption, overpricing og P200 million. Iyang giilis ang problema sa syudad (on the SRP). Yabag ang tubag (Her problems are corruption and overpricing by P200 million. She’s trying to focus instead on the City’s SRP. That’s off-tangent),” Osmeña said over radio dyLA yesterday afternoon.
“Akong tan-aw, nganong hatag og taas nga presentation duha ka oras, to justify ang cost nga P500 million, P800 million diay ang gasto? Iya gi-change ang topic. Diversionary tactic gyud (Why give a two-hour presentation to justify the CICC’s P500-million cost, when it turns out to be P800 million? She’s changing the topic),” the mayor added.
He said that while the City will be free of its foreign debt after selling 30 hectares of the SRP—“which several investors are raring to purchase”—it will take 100 years for the CICC to collect P600 million. He based his calculation on the over P3 million that the Capitol reported as the CICC’s earnings in six months.
No burden
Capitol consultant on information Rory Jon Sepulveda said that if Osmeña is alleging corruption in the CICC transactions, this is already with the proper government authorities.
“If he has proof, and the issue is already with the government agencies tasked on such matters, unsa pa ma’y iyang ikasakit ana (What is he harping about)?” said Sepulveda.
“We will face the CICC issue head on and we will answer every issue,” he added. At least, Sepulveda said, the P800 million for CICC will stop there and will not balloon into billions like the SRP project’s debt.
“Never mind if it will take some time to recover, at least the Cebuanos are assued that there’s no additional burden, like interest, because we did not borrow for it,” Sepulveda said.
He added that they will not take seriously Osmeña’s financial projections because he does not have an excellent track record where that is concerned, considering the SRP debt that started with some P2.8 billion is now almost P7 billion.
‘Comedy’
Sepulveda also said they were not just referring to the SRP in calling for whistleblowers to be fair and show the same “zest, zeal and vigor” in scrutinizing other projects.
Businessman Crisologo Saavedra, for his part, yesterday said that for him, there’s nothing to investigate about the SRP because he thinks the project is “something to be proud of.”
It’s also normal to pay interest on foreign loans, he added, although he confirmed he is meeting with City Planning Officer Paul Villarete to get information about the SRP.
The best way for the governor to prove that WT Construction’s final billing on the CICC was not paid yet is for her to show documents, Saavedra added.
On this, Sepulveda said Saavedra has “a future in comedy.”
“If you are alleging payment, you prove payment. For us there was no payment, so what papers are we going to show? Siya mao’y pakita ug dokumento (Let him be the one to show documents),” he said.
After squabbling over the ownership of some land, two of Cebu’s top local government executives have turned their attention to criticizing each other’s most high-profile projects—how much each one cost and whether it was a wise use of taxpayers’ pesos.
Accounting
Osmeña said that while he has been transparent over the City Government’s spending for the Asean Summit last January, the governor and her mayor-allies have still failed to submit an accounting.
“Akong gibutang sa newspaper bisan donation sa bino. Si Mayor (Thadeo) Ouano, si Mayor (Arturo) Radaza, si Gov. Garcia wala gyud (Even the donated bottles of wine were listed in my newspaper ad. Mandaue Mayor Thadeo Ouano, Lapu-Lapu Mayor Arturo Radaza and Governor Garcia have not accounted for what they spent),” he said during the radio interview.
Both Ouano and Radaza have been preventively suspended by the ombudsman, as it investigates their possible involvement in the alleged overpricing of street lamps.
“I’m just trying to say to the people of Cebu that I’m transparent…. I always tell the people of Cebu that this is where the money went,” Osmeña said.
He assured that investors, who include Japanese businessmen, hotel group representatives and the Ayala Group are interested in the SRP. He is just biding his time since he wants to ensure that the buyers would put up job-generating investments.
The City Government is bidding out a 30-hectare SRP lot to raise the P500 million needed for debt servicing this year.
Osmeña, early this month, said the 30 hectares will yield more than enough to cover the City’s loan payment for 2007, if sold for at least P7,000 per square meter.
The City has already paid some P250 million last February to the Japan Bank for International Cooperation for its SRP loan, and is scheduled to make its second and last payment for this year in August, at the same amount.
The mayor is optimistic that developers who have expressed interest to buy land at the SRP will join the bidding, including SM Prime Holdings Inc., Bigfoot Global Solutions, Filinvest and Robinson’s Land.
“Pili ta kinsa ang makahatag og trabaho sa (We will choose those who can generate jobs for) constituents,” he said. (RHM/JPM/With KNT)
