BACOLOD City Councilor Wilson Gamboa Jr. said the City Government of Bacolod should have channeled the P800-million budget for the MassKara Coliseum to the legitimate needs of Bacolodnons.
He said these are hospital, rehabilitation of major public markets, and construction of satellite markets, among others.
The P800 million will form a major part of the P1.7-billion loan to be availed by the City Government of Bacolod from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and which is payable within 15 years or until 2033, he said.
The decision to avail a huge loan will surely tie the people of Bacolod and the City Government to serious indebtedness to the point of financially drowning the city, he added.
Gamboa said the recommendation by the City Council committee on finance was apparently incomplete as it did not include the detailed project identification of more than eight projects suggested during their public hearing.
He said that it only gave the mayor a blanket authority to sign the proposed loan agreement with DBP without the needed project identification.
He said they railroaded the process by unwisely approving P1.7 billion loan.
Earlier, Councilor Caesar Distrito, chairman of the City Council committee on finance and appropriation, stressed on his Facebook account that the loan had been discussed thoroughly, extensively, and followed all the processes.