OH I like that.
Sixth District Rep. Jonas Cortes is painting a bleak picture of Mandaue City’s economic future if the City Government, under the administration of Mayor Luigi Quisumbing, pushes through with its plan to shut down three establishments that are subleasing a prime property owned by the City.
Cortes, who is running for mayor against Quisumbing this May, predicts it will result in “economic doom.”
“I hope and pray that the current administration will look into this because it sends a wrong message to the businessmen. We have been trying our best to make Mandaue a business-friendly city. But by closing the establishments and filing cases, mahadlok na mobubo sa puhunan dinhi sa dakbayan sa Mandaue (businessmen will be afraid to invest in Mandaue),” Cortes said.
The 1.4-hectare property in question is in Barangay Tipolo.
The City, as Cortes put it, had been trying so hard to attract businesses that it agreed to lease the area to Katumanan Hardware Inc., a private supplier of wood and hardwood materials, for P12 per square meter, or P170,000 a month, for 15 years. That was way back in 2007 when Cortes was still mayor. Then in 2012, the City Government, still under Cortes, extended the lease to 25 years.
Cortes’ raison d’etre: “The contract includes a provision requiring the investor to infuse another P60 million for structures that would complement our master plan to make the area a commercial and entertainment hub.”
But then in 2013, Katumanan subleased the property to Cenore Corp., which later built two hotels on the lot. The deed of assignment, which transferred the leasing rights of Katumanan to Cenore, was signed by Cortes.
Mind you, the City Council only ratified it last month, or six years later. Before Feb. 27, 2019, “the City Council secretariat did not have a record of the deed of assignment, which the Commission on Audit noted.”
Elaine Bathan, Mayor Quisumbing’s chief of staff, pointed out that then mayor Cortes may have signed the deed of assignment in 2013, but it did not have the required approval of the council. The council was not even aware of the transaction, she said.
Hmm. Let’s rewind a bit.
Under the terms of contract between the City and Katumanan, the latter is renting the property for P12 per square meter, or P170,000 a month, for 25 years.
Am I correct so far?
Gee. Talking about Katumanan getting very lucky. Everybody who lives in the metro knows you can’t rent a prime property for P12 per square meter. In fact, the property has a current appraisal value of P1,500 to P2,000 per square meter and a market value of at least P10,000 per square meter.
So I guess the bottom line is, how much is Cenore subleasing the property from Katumanan? I mean, wouldn’t you want to know? Because it doesn’t say on any of the reports.
It must be a lot. Otherwise, why would Cortes say “economic doom” would befall the city if the Quisumbing administration did shut down the businesses Cenore put up on the property?
Then again, who is he kidding? The City is only getting P170,000 a month for a 1.4-hectare prime property. For a first class, highly urbanized city like Mandaue, we’re talking peanuts.