THE Negros Cooperative Bank located inside the Provincial Capitol Lagoon faces ejection for allegedly violating its usufruct agreement with the provincial government.
The Provincial Council of Negros Occidental approved during their regular session Wednesday, October 30, 2019, a resolution ejecting the bank from the Provincial Government-owned Capitol Lagoon Park.
Board Member Andrew Montelibano of the Third District, who authored the resolution, said the bank "violated its deed of usufruct with the provincial government."
"The contract between the Provincial Government and the bank started in 2007 and it was reviewed in 2017 where an extension of 40 years was agreed upon," Montelibano said.
He said under the contract, the use of the land is free but the bank will pay for its own water and electricity bills.
But he said the Provincial Legal Office (PLO) conducted a research and discovered that the bank gets its electricity from the Capitol Building.
"I think that is not right. They are doing business but it seems that from land and utilities all is free courtesy of the Capitol," he pointed out.
Montelibano added that they still have to check if the bank has a sub-meter or is tapping directly to the line of the Capitol.
It was the Provincial Engineering Office who actually discovered this and submitted it to the PLO, he said.
There is also the issue of conflict of interest, Montelibano said, adding that Nestor Bayona, the signatory for the bank, was also a consultant for cooperative development under the administration of former governor Alfredo Marañon Jr.
Asked if they will call Bayona to attend the regular session, Montelibano said the work of the Council is already done, "It will now be with the PLO on what action they intend to do next."
For Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer, he is supporting the move even if Bayona is considered an ally of Marañon, founder and chairman of the United Negros Alliance, of which he is the president.
"I don't want to see politics in the move," Ferrer said, "because Bayona is also a friend."
"If there is a violation of the contract, then the Provincial Government has a right to rescind it," the vice governor said.
Bayona has not issued a statement on the move of the Council.