THE Provincial Capitol has considered the plan of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to rehabilitate the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC), after the Mandaue City Government dropped from its priorities the acquisition of the building.
Provincial Administrator Mark Tolentino said that the CICC management board met with DTI officials last Monday and tackled the plan of the government agency to make the CICC into a Cebu International Trade and Exhibition Center (CITEC).
Tolentino said that the board is studying how much it will cost for the National Government to rehabilitate the CICC and what are the changes that will be introduced to the facility.
He said that the CICC management board will again meet with officials of Mandaue and DTI soon.
“So this is a welcome development because we can still move forward with the use and rehabilitation of the complex for a broader purpose and at the same time it will not be coming from us,” Tolentino said.
In a separate interview, Gov. Hilario Davide III said it was President Benigno Aquino III who directed the DTI to study what can be done to improve the CICC.
During Aquino’s visit in Cebu last May 1, Davide said that the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry had asked for the President’s help with the CICC and raised the possibility of the building being used as an exhibition center.
Davide said that Aquino was impressed on the furniture industry in Cebu, especially in Mandaue City, that the President asked for the costing of the repair of CICC, and will task the DTI secretary to look into it.
“Gasto man na sa national (It’s the National Government’s expense). The President offered that the National Government would take care of it. Labing maayo kong walay gasto gyud (It would be better if the Capitol will not have to spend). My position on that (CICC) has not changed,” Davide told reporters.
Tolentino said that after the Capitol could come up with the final costing, the CICC management board would approve it before it will be forwarded to the DTI.
Assistant Provincial Administrator Ramil Abing said the acquisition of the CICC is no longer the priority of Mandaue Mayor Jonas Cortes because they have other concerns in the city like the building of a new city hall.
Abing said the DTI’s move is now the new direction of the Capitol and Mandaue City.