Tomas gets council nod to negotiate in SRP sale

CEBU CITY Mayor Tomas Osmeña can now start negotiations to come up with an amicable settlement on the two cases involving the South Road Properties (SRP).

After the City Council approved with five abstentions the resolution requesting Osmeña to negotiate two cases involving SRP lots.

Councilors Dave Tumulak and Mary Ann delos Santos sponsored the resolution.

Tumulak earlier said the move was for the best interest of the City.

It was only Tumulak who sponsored the resolution when it was first introduced to the Council. But de los Santos joined him when it was reintroduced yesterday.

The resolution covers the request for Osmeña to negotiate the consignation that three giant developers made for the payment of the lots they bought in the SRP and the civil petition for declaratory relief that Romulo Torres filed to stop the City from spending the proceeds of the sale of SRP lots in 2015.

The consortium of Ayala Land Inc., Cebu Holdings Inc. and SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SMPHI) also consigned in court the amount of P16.7 billion as payment for the lots the three developers bought.

In 2015, Torres filed a civil petition for declaratory relief and injunction with temporary restraining order to stop the Council from appropriating funds from the P8.3 billion downpayment the City received from the three developers that won the bidding for the SRP lots.

Councilors Raymond Garcia, Pastor Alcover Jr., Renato Osmeña, Erik Espina and Eduardo Rama abstained from voting.

Garcia said he abstained because Osmeña has no legal standing to negotiate the Torres case because he is not the respondent.

Torres filed his civil petition against the City Council with Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella as the nominal respondent being the presiding officer.

Although she voted in favor of the resolution, Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera expressed her reservation on the Torres case, reiterating the legal personality of the mayor to negotiate it because he is not a party to the case.

But Tumulak clarified that the resolution is a mere request to the mayor and any negotiation that will be entered into will still be subject to the approval of the Council.

In an earlier interview, Osmeña said he was is not willing to amicably settle the cases related to the SRP.

Osmeña said any move he would make must be approved by the people of the city. (RVC)

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