THE Bacolod City Council has granted Mayor Evelio Leonardia the authority to sign the deed of donation of 8.8-hectare land by the Yanson Reality Development Corporation (YRDC) and Vallacar Transit Inc.
Acting Vice Mayor Caesar Distrito, chairperson of the City Council committee on laws, said on Thursday, January 24, they unanimously approved on Wednesday, January 23, the resolution.
The donated properties will be used for the city’s South Public Terminal, museum, and coliseum.
Those who voted in favor of the move were Councilors Dindo Ramos, Bartolome Orola, Em Ang, Cindy Rojas, Elmer Sy, Ana Marie Palermo, Ayesha Villaflor, and Lady Gles Gonzales-Pallen, and Distrito.
Councilors Wilson Gamboa Jr. and Claudio Puentevella abstained while Councilor Sonya Verdeflor was out of the session hall.
Councilor Ricardo Tan was on leave, while Councilor Renecito Novero was the acting presiding officer.
Distrito said the South Public Terminal has a land area of 1.5 hectares along Barangays Alijis, Pahanocoy, and the Circumferential Road.
“As a city official and citizen of the City of Bacolod, I am truly grateful that we have this family willing to donate the property worth almost half a billion for the city,|” he said, adding this project will develop the sleeping southern part of Bacolod.
He added this will be another area where jobs would be created, business will arise, and tourism will definitely blossom considering they have donated the property where the coliseum, museum, south terminal, and other business establishments will arise in the areas of Barangays Alijis, Pahanocoy, and Circumferential Road.
The coliseum and museum also had a land area of 7.3 hectares.
Ramos, chairperson of the City Council committee on transportation, also said the realization of the South Public Terminal will surely reduce the traffic congestion in major thoroughfares of the city particularly in the downtown area and the Libertad Market.
“I think it is high time for the city to push through the South Public Terminal,” Ramos said.
For his part, Gamboa said he abstained because the coliseum which will be funded by the P1.7 billion loan is tainted with legal infirmities.
“They will do everything and anything possible just to accommodate their masterpiece which is the coliseum under a web of deception. I cannot be a part of this deception,” he said. (MAP)