CITY OF NAGA mayor-elect Valdemar “Val” Chiong said he would coordinate with Cebu governor-elect Gwendolyn Garcia to develop and transform the former Balili beach resort into a productive business center in southern Cebu.
Chiong told SunStar Cebu that the City Government had offered the administration of outgoing governor and vice governor-elect Hilario Davide III the chance to sell the property for P300 million.
However, Chiong said it did not materialize. He did not elaborate. The former Balili property was bought by the Cebu Provincial Government during the time of Garcia in the amount of P98 million.
A group of businessmen recently expressed their desire to buy the property for P1.5 billion, which Chiong described as a large amount of money that could benefit his constituents.
Chiong became a mayor after succeeding his brother Ferdinand Chiong, who died in office in the 2000s. He was then elected mayor in three consecutive elections, from 2007 until 2016.
After his third and last term in 2016, he was replaced by his daughter—the outgoing Mayor Kristine Vanessa Chiong. He will re-assume the post of mayor on Monday, July 1, 2019.
The City of Naga’s annual budget was P265 million when Chiong first became mayor. It rose to more than P800 million when he left in 2016. At present, the city has more than P1 billion in its annual budget.
“The City of Naga is business-friendly. That’s why we were able to attract several business firms that have paid huge amounts of taxes and employed people in the community,” Chiong said.
He said Primary Structures recently expressed its intention to build a business process outsourcing hub for information technology in a 1,000-square-meter lot in the city. (EOB)