Monday, October 13, 2008 COA studying proposal by Filinvest for SRP
A DRAFT contract for the sale of the South Road Properties (SRP) is now being studied by the Commission on Audit (COA) en banc, which will deliberate on the Filinvest Land Incorporated’s (FLI) proposal anytime now.
Rep. Raul del Mar (Cebu City, north district) said that upon the instructions of Mayor-on-leave Tomas Osmeña, he submitted two envelopes to COA Chairman Reynaldo Villar last Tuesday.
He said he did not open the envelopes but he presumed that one contained the city ordinance on the prescribed guidelines for a joint venture (JV) with private entities while the other contained the agreement with FLI for its purchase of SRP lots.
Draft
But in separate interviews yesterday, Acting Mayor Hilario Davide III and Cebu Investment and Promotion Center (CIPC) Managing Director Joel Mari Yu said there is no agreement with FLI yet.
The CIPC is the marketing arm of the SRP.
What was submitted to COA was a draft of the contractual arrangement, which is the document that binds the two parties and specifies each party’s obligations in the JV.
No signatures
The contract contained no signatures and will be signed by the city mayor and FLI representatives, or whoever wins in the Swiss challenge on FLI’s unsolicited proposal, only after the competitive bidding.
“This will be signed only after the Swiss challenge and after it is approved by the City Council. We just sent a draft to COA to clear with them even before we bid it out; also, so they are aware of the proposal. COA is the only critical agency that can cause a snag,” said Yu.
The COA, he said, has jurisdiction only on the sale component of the proposal. The joint venture, on the other hand, will need authority only from the city council, which will approve the lease rates of the SRP lots.
Under the law, the sale of properties by any government entity requires prior approval from the COA.
FLI submitted an unsolicited proposal to buy a 10-hectare portion of the SRP’s seafront for P2 billion, and develop a 40-hectare portion under a JV with the City Government.
Investment
It wants to invest P80 billion in high-rise and medium-rise condominiums, hospital and retirement facilities, office buildings and a commercial center.
In a phone interview yesterday, del Mar said Villar told him that it will be the commission en banc that will decide on the documents he gave.
“He said it’s the en banc that will approve it; it’s not for him to decide on, although he said that they have allowed a JV by local government units in the past. I’m confident that they will approve this one. They now have the documents and are reviewing it already,” del Mar told Sun.Star Cebu. (LCR)
