FORMER Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has revealed that they will have the contract between the Cebu City Government and Megawide Construction Corporation (MCC) cancelled in the event that his wife Margarita “Margot” Osmeña takes her seat as mayor after the 2022 elections.
Osmeña along with some members of his party, Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK), met with Carbon market vendors and reportedly found a lot of evidence to have the joint venture agreement (JVA) cancelled and prevent the modernization of Carbon market.
“We will have it rescinded but I cannot rescind it because it is in the law that only the court can rescind a contract. But we will file all the cases against it and we have enough evidence to have it rescinded and we will concentrate on that,” Osmeña said in a mix of Cebuano and English.
Currently, vendors who are opposed to the project have been assured by the former mayor of help by paying for all the costs of filing a case in court.
“There are so many legal factors but since you are not legal, I will just give you the assurance that I am willing to help with all the legal costs to bring justice to the poor,” Osmeña added.
Osmeña said the Carbon market modernization project is “anti poor” because once the market is developed, big companies and businesses will take over eliminating marginalized vendors.
The 112-year-old Carbon is the largest and oldest farmer’s market in Cebu.
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama shrugged off Osmeña’s pronouncements.
Rama’s short reply: “He is entitled to his own imagination.”
Cebu City under the recently deceased Mayor Edgardo Labella signed the JVA with Megawide to turn Carbon Market into a commercial, heritage and cultural district with a multimodal and integrated transport hub.
Under the PPP, an initial P5.5 billion fund was allocated by Megawide to convert the market into a world-class tourist destination.