BAGUIO City Mayor Benjamin Magalong said the reevaluation of proposals from SM Prime Holdings Incorporated and Robinsons Land Holdings for the public market development will begin anew.
“We will do the evaluation next week and, hopefully, we will have something definitive already,” said Magalong.
Magalong added the Technical Evaluation Team, composed of City Assistant Planning Officer Antonette Annaban and the Mayor’s Office, will lead the team of evaluators that will include a multi-sectoral group.
The mayor said the team is separate from the previously created Public-Private Partnership for the People Selection Committee (P4-SC) tasked to lead the market redevelopment.
Magalong said both proponents have submitted additional requirements for the technical team to decide on.
Robinsons edged out SM in a bid to get first dibs for the market redevelopment, but Magalong formally rejected the P4-SC decision to award the Original Proponent Status (OPS), bringing back development for the market to a standstill. He underscored the lapses committed during the selection process.
Lawyer Zosimo Abratique, Baguio Market Vendors Association (Bamarva) president, assured the cooperative is not backing down in the bid to redevelop the market and is poised to ask the City Government to consider the cooperative in the scheduled reevaluation.
The cooperative was disqualified from the selection because of documentary lapses that are now being ironed out.
Abratique added a letter of reconsideration will be in order as well as an information campaign to let the public know of the merits of Bamarva's proposal to solidify its intent for the redevelopment bid.
Lawmakers backed Magalong’s rejection of Robinsons from its OPS, with Councilor Betty Lourdes Tabanda voting against development proposals from both Robinsons and SM Prime Holdings Inc.
Tabanda said the mall giants' development could cause the market to lose “the heart of the city."
"It [Baguio market] is part and has always been part of the lives of every resident. It is part of our heritage. It has a character of its own. A trip to Baguio is never complete without a visit to the public market. But age is catching up with the market, it needs to be revitalized, it needs to be developed,” she said.