REP. Gwendolyn Garcia (Cebu, 3rd) vowed to hold accountable Capitol officials who abandoned and sold the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC), if she is elected governor.
“What was once our source of pride is now in a dilapidated state and then sold to the Mandaue City Government for P300 million, a loss to the Province of Cebu. Then now I heard that Mandaue has sold the property to a private entity and it’s being torn piece by piece for scrap metal. I promise you, someone is going to be accountable for that and it’s not going to be me,” Garcia said.
She addressed the CICC issue that the hosts raised during the Mega Cebu Klarohay Ta! Candidates’ Forum at the University of San Carlos Main campus on Friday morning, April 5.
A separate forum was held in the afternoon with Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III and Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale.
Garcia and Magpale are running for governor, while Davide and Daphne Salimbangon are running for vice governor.
During the forum, Davide said he does not regret selling the CICC to the Mandaue City Government.
If Garcia wants to sue him, “she can go ahead,” he told reporters after the forum.
Davide said he was happy when the Mandaue City Government offered to buy the CICC for P300 million.
When he and Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale assumed office in 2013, they decided not to spend for the CICC’s renovation.
In the same year, an earthquake and Typhoon Yolanda heavily damaged CICC, giving Davide more reason not to fix it.
During the forum, Garcia called out Davide for his administration’s failure to manage and maintain the CICC, which would have provided a steady income to the Province if it were still being used.
She said all Province-owned buildings are supposed to be insured, but she learned that the CICC was never insured.
Garcia said when the CICC was completed in 2006, it was given a “clean bill of health” by the Commission on Audit.
But she was surprised when she and 11 other officials of her administration were sued by retired Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales over claims that the construction of the CICC was overpriced.
Though the administrative charges have been dismissed by the Court of Appeals, she is still facing criminal charges before the Sandiganbayan.
Once a venue for local and international events, the CICC was earning P30 million a year during its heyday, Garcia said.
“Because of CICC, Cebu has been placed in the world map of MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) destinations,” she said, adding that the current administration lost its opportunity to earn and gain more from the CICC due to constant politicking.
In 2016, Morales sued Garcia and 11 others for violating the anti-graft law when they illegally resorted to an alternative method of procurement for some works on the CICC.
Garcia and the other accused allegedly did not conduct bidding for various contracts on the CICC construction.
Meanwhile, Magpale denied insinuations made by Garcia’s camp that the current administration is wasting money on useless infrastructure projects and programs.
She said that while Garcia had big -ticket projects like the CICC, her administration also left Cebu with a debt of some P800 million, P500 million of which was already settled by the current administration due to settlement hearings. (JKV)