Thursday, January 15, 2009 ‘Don’t blame Capitol for city debts’
ONE of the options being studied, now that Cebu City Hall has blocked the Province from challenging a developer’s unsolicited proposal, is filing a case against Cebu City’s bids and awards committee.
“Now, if they say it has to be a private corporation, organized in accordance with the Corporation Code of the Philippines, then the Province can question whether that provision or condition in the (joint venture) ordinance is reasonable and legal.
So, it has to go to court,” said Rep. Pablo John Garcia. He also said, however, that he was not speaking in the Province’s behalf.
He said the City cannot blame the Province for its loan interest obligations, which amount to some P1 million a day, because its debt payments started long before the Province expressed interest in the South Road Properties (SRP).
Garcia was reacting to the statement of City Administrator Francisco Fernandez, who said that he hoped the Capitol will not pursue its plan of going to court against the joint venture with Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI) because each day’s delay costs the City P1 million in interest on their SRP loan.
“For all these years that they (Cebu City Hall) have been paying that huge debt, the Province of Cebu has not been part of it,” Garcia said.
He said that changes in the City’s policies - and not the Province’s expression of interest in the SRP—were to blame for the delayed entry of SRP locators.
“So, don’t try to shift the blame to the Province of Cebu because you have had that problem for the longest time and Cebu
Province has only come in, showing its intent to be part of the SRP, only very recently, a few months ago,” the congressman said.
He explained that if the Province of Cebu will file a case against the City Government over the SRP deal, that is only because the City Government has left the Province of Cebu with no choice.
“They want this to be a single bidding based on an unsolicited proposal… That spells the death of transparency,” Garcia said.
He recalled that when Mayor Tomas Osmeña announced that a challenger to the joint venture project must pay the developmental cost that amounts to hundreds of millions, the Province protested.
“Because we protested that stipulation, they backed out. We should not be silent,” he added.
While City officials worry about the possible delay in the SRP project, Garcia pointed out, the Cebu City Government has caused delays in the implementation of Ciudad, the Province’s joint venture project in Banilad. (EOB)
