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Saturday, February 19, 2005
Cebu City needs P150M to pay for SRP loan
By Gingging A. Campaña
CEBU CITY -- Cebu City Hall will be spending over P1 million a day to pay for the interest alone of its loan for the South Reclamation Project (SRP), said SRP manager Nigel Paul Villarete.
On Sunday, the City Government is expected to pay 288,389,482 million yen or P150.28 million, a portion of the interest, to the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), conduit for the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).
City Hall accounting records show the SRP loan has ballooned from the original P2.2 billion in 1996 to P4.33 billion this year.
By September this year, the City will need over P300 million to start paying for the principal amount and loan interests, said Villarete.
Since there are no investors at the SRP yet, payments for the loan and interest will be taken from the City's general funds, which come from its revenues and taxes collected the previous year.
According to Villarete, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña signed the voucher for the partial loan payment that's due Sunday, in the presence of JBIC officials. The bank officials met with the mayor last Thursday to discuss the titling of the SRP.
Sacrifice
Osmeña said Cebu City has to forgo the plan to buy heavy equipment to develop roads in upland barangays, as it has to use the general funds for loan payments.
Unless Cebu City acquires special patents or titles for the SRP this year-and, after doing so, markets the reclaimed area to investors-it will continue tapping its general funds until year 2025 to pay for the loan.
Cebu City needs to raise funds in foreign currency by leasing the properties to investors. That way, if there are drastic changes in the foreign exchange rate, it will have enough to pay the loan.
City officials blamed difficulties in getting titles and delays in marketing the 295-hectare SRP on the Talisay City Government, which is disputing Cebu's application for the titling of the reclaimed land.
"Once this is solved, we don't have to use our taxes to pay for our debts. We have to sacrifice because most of our funds are being used for debt servicing. We are suffering but at the same time, we're going to give Talisay a hard time," Mayor Osmeña told barangay captains and nongovernment organizations Friday during the quarterly meeting of the Cebu Development Council (CDC).
'Belligerence'
Osmeña told the CDC how the Talisay City Government has been giving Cebu City a hard time in acquiring the titles for the SRP.
Both local governments have been at odds since Talisay, through its former mayor Eduardo Gullas, blocked Cebu City's application for special patents for the project.
But Gullas, now congressman of Cebu's first district, clarified that he is not questioning Presidential Proclamation 763, which declared the SRP a special economic zone.
"It is completely within the President's power to make such a declaration," said Gullas in a press statement. "Who am I to question the wisdom of her decision?"
Proclamation 763, though, does not settle the question on SRP's encroachment on Talisay's territory, Gullas said. "They are entirely different issues."
In the same press statement, Gullas lamented Mayor Osmeña's "continued belligerence" in his attitude toward the dispute between the two cities.
3 acts
"Foul and harsh language does not make up for the paucity of logic," he said. "Neither will it bring any advantage to the party using it in a dispute."
Osmeña had called Gullas a landgrabber for staking a claim over 53.44 hectares of the SRP.
Talisay City Attorney Aurora Econg earlier vowed that they will question any special patents or title that will be issued to Cebu City.
Villarete, in an interview, dismissed Econg's claims that Talisay is not claiming ownership, only jurisdiction.
"Talisay is actually deceiving the public by issuing such statements," he told news reporters Friday. "They are guilty of mental dishonesty. They are after the ownership, not just jurisdiction. They want to own the land for free and let the Cebuanos pay for it."
Villarete cited three official acts of the Talisay City Government, which showed that they are indeed after the ownership of the 53.44-hectare portion of the SRP.
"They objected to our application for titling. They shouldn't have objected if they are only after jurisdiction," he said.
"They filed an application for special patents signed by then mayor Gullas and notarized by Econg herself. (Then) the Talisay City Council passed a resolution authorizing Gullas to file the application with the Cenro (Community Environment and Natural Resources Office)."
Who owns it
Villarete showed reporters copies of Talisay's application and Cenro's letter dated June 4, 2004, informing the City Government that its application cannot be acted on unless it (Talisay) submits the requirements.
The letter was signed by Cenro Pedencio Carreon, who also wrote that Talisay has a similar application to the one filed by Cebu City.
Meanwhile, during their visit on Thursday, three JBIC officials told Osmeña that they will be visiting the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Manila to discuss the titling of the SRP.
"They also informed us that the Philippine Government should adhere to its original agreement (that the agency that implemented the JBIC-funded reclamation project owns the reclaimed land, and that is Cebu City)," Villarete said.
He said the mayor had signed the voucher in front of bank officials to show Cebu City's commitment to JBIC.
Payments to the SRP loan will be made to the Land Bank of the Philippines, JBIC's conduit bank. (With PR)
(February 19, 2005 issue)
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