SOME three weeks before their term ends, allies of outgoing Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña in the City Council led by Councilor Sisinio Andales, make a last-ditch move to declare the sale of the South Road Properties (SRP) lots in 2015 invalid.
To recall, the SM-Ayala consortium and Filinvest Land, Inc. (FLI) were declared the winning bidders in the 45.2-hectare lot sale in SRP. Of the 45.2 hectares, the consortium bought 26.3 hectares and FLI bought 19.2 hectares. They had initially paid P8.3 billion to the City out of the P16.76 billion total sale price.
It should be noted that last April 30, 2019, the Court of Appeals 18th Division dismissed the appeal of private citizen lawyer Romulo Torres to the decision of the Regional Trial Court in Cebu City dismissing his action for declaratory relief, which sought to prevent the City from spending the P8.3 billion proceeds from the sale of SRP lots in 2015.
But the CA upheld the lower court’s decision that the sale of a portion of the SRP to the consortium was legal and the contracts binding.
The decision would mean that incoming mayor Edgardo Labella has P8.3 billion in funds at his administration’s disposal. He said he would use the funds to pay portions of the SRP loan and for other projects.
The Osmeña allies are simply uncomfortable with that possibility. In a redundancy of effort, Andales’s petition seeks to declare void ab initio or void from the very beginning the negotiated sale of SRP lots awarded to the consortium.
The Council earlier came up with a draft resolution that “directs” the City Legal Office to file a petition for declaratory relief. But it came with an objection from opposition Councilor Raymond Garcia who said the word should be “request” instead of “direct,” since the Legal Office, which belongs to the executive branch, is not under the jurisdiction of the Council.
City Legal Officer Joseph Bernaldez’s term, however, ends on June 30. The Council’s petition may not be realized if the office fails to file the petition before Bernaldez’s term terminates.
In a separate resolution, the Council also approved a measure affirming that the negotiated sales on installment to the consortium are deemed void.
With a BOPK-dominated Council in the incoming administration, the move serves as a sign of things to come once Labella begins his term. Here’s one dogged opposition that refuses to cower. The SRP’s consortium lot sale is a sampler of the many contentions that will yet come.