Councilor: Bank declines loan to city

ONE of the banks the Tacloban City Government plans to avail itself of P400-million loan declined to grant it, a councilor said.

Councilor Jerry Yaokasin said the bank, which he does not to publicize, declined granting the loan because the management found out that most the project stipulated on the submitted ordinance are already accomplished.

“The projects that were questioned include the construction of health centers and the road rehabilitation in several parts of the city that are done already. They also cited that all these projects have available local funds that could be used to finance them,” he said.

“There will be no bank that would allow any local government unit to borrow any amount to be used in funding projects that are already constructed,” he added.

Yaokosin seemed to be the only council member who strongly opposes the approval of an ordinance authorizing Mayor Alfred Romualdez to make the P400-million loan from any reputable bank to be used to fund the necessary projects the city wishes to implement.

Yaokasin said the ordinance is one of the requirements the city needs to submit to the banks they wish to have the loan.

“The bank, which the City Government targeted to make the P400-million loan, required the City Government to submit an ordinance, because the old ordinance (City Ordinance Number 2012-11-24) approved by the council last March 7 has many corrections,” he said.

Just like the ordinance approved by the council last March 7, Yaokasin still objected to this because, according to him, many of its stipulated details were questionable and misleading.

The drafted ordinance showed that the P400 million to be loaned would be used by the administration on the construction of sanitary landfill that has an allocated P75-million budget; improvement of slaughterhouse at P80 million; rehabilitation of some of city’s drainage system at P60 million; construction of several barangay gymnasiums at P15 million; improvement of the city police and fire stations at P10 million; procurement of several heavy equipment worth P40 million and closed circuit television (CCTV) units at P20 million.

The councilor also opposed the approval of the ordinance because of the inappropriate terminologies used. “They are not certain on the proper words to use. This just only means that they crafted the ordinance quickly.”

“It seems that they are not also certain on whether to construct or to reimburse a certain project. As for me, how can you reimburse if the one who made the project is still the City Government?” he said.

Some of the projects on the ordinance that he questioned include the rehabilitation of the slaughterhouse in Diit area and the construction of drainage canals.

“Why do we need to continue improving the slaughterhouse when the National Meat Inspection Service recommended relocating this facility, since they said that the location of the site is not appropriate? Also, why was the V&G subdivision missed out in the construction of drainage canal, which is the most affected area during rainy seasons?” he said.

He added that there is a need to have a proper direction and policy before the loan should be made.

Yaokasin said that unlike the previous administration of his father Alfredo Romualdez, the loan made by the City Government was seen.

“The new bus terminal, the astrodome, and the public market are there,” he said. (Leyte Samar Daily Express)