ALLIES of outgoing Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña are making a last-ditch effort to declare the sale of South Road Properties (SRP) lots in 2015 invalid.
For the third time already, Councilor Sisinio Andales, an ally of Osmeña, sponsored another resolution on Tuesday, June 4, 2019, which seeks to declare the sale of SRP lots in 2015 void.
With four objections, the City Council approved a resolution requesting the City Legal Office to file a petition for declaratory relief.
However, the request may not be realized if the City Legal Office fails to file the petition in time as the term of the current city attorney, who is an appointee of Osmeña, expires on June 30.
City Legal Officer lawyer Joseph Bernaldez’s appointment to the position is co-terminus with Osmeña’s term.
The petition seeks to declare void ab initio or void from the very beginning the negotiated sale of SRP lots awarded to the consortium of SM Prime Holdings Inc. and Ayala Land Inc. (SM-Ayala consortium) and Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI).
In 2015, the SM-Ayala consortium and FLI were declared winning bidders in the 45.2-hectare lot sale in the SRP.
Of the 45.2 hectares, the SM-Ayala consortium bought 26.3 hectares; FLI bought 19.2 hectares.
The buyers initially paid P8.3 billion to the City out of the P16.76 billion total sale price.
When he assumed office in 2016, Osmeña said he would rescind the contract of sale with the three developers, saying the transaction was illegal.
Osmeña said former mayor Michael Rama was not authorized by the City Council to sell the lot as required under City Ordinance 2332.
‘Direct vs. request’
Andales’ original resolution “directs” the City Legal Office to file the declaratory relief but opposition Councilor Raymond Garcia suggested that it should be changed to “request.”
Garcia said this is because of the separation of powers between the executive and legislative and the City Council cannot direct the legal office.
“The City Legal Office is under the executive, hence the Sanggunian has no jurisdiction to direct and authorize the City Legal Office,” he said.
Opposition Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera on the other hand objected to the resolution saying this has been tackled in the Council three times already.
Earlier, opposition councilors said there was nothing illegal in the sale of SRP lots in 2015 as the court has already ruled on the matter through the case filed by Romulo Torres.
The Court of Appeals recently dismissed the petition for declaratory relief filed by Torres, which seeks to prevent the City from spending the P8.3 billion proceeds from the sale of SRP lots in 2015.
9 vs. 4 votes
The objection prompted Acting Vice Mayor Dave Tumulak, who presided over the Council, to proceed with the voting.
In a vote of nine versus four votes, the petition was approved.
Pesquera, Garcia and Councilors Joel Garganera and Pastor Alcover Jr., who are all opposition councilors, voted against its passage.
Administration Councilors Margarita Osmeña, Mary Ann de los Santos, Alvin Arcilla, Eugenio Gabuya Jr., Joy Young, Jerry Guardo, Franklin Ong, Jessica Resch and Andales voted in favor of the passage.
Other opposition councilors Renato Osmeña Jr., Eduardo Rama and James Anthony Cuenco were out of the session hall when the voting was made while Councilor Jose Daluz III was absent.
Earlier, Andales also sponsored a resolution, which the Council approved on a vote of 10-7, informing the city residents on the major defects of the sale of SRP lots to the consortium.
The Council also approved the resolution of Andales recognizing the authority and validity of the compromise agreement that Osmeña entered over the case filed by Torres despite objections from the opposition councilors.
The same resolution also provides that the authority granted to Osmeña to sign the compromise agreement that was dated Jan. 11, 2019, as provided under Sangguniang Panlungosd (SP) Resolution No. 14-0598-2018, cannot extend to any other actions of the local chief executive pertaining to the case.
In a separate resolution, the Council, with objections from the opposition councilors, also approved a measure affirming and confirming that the negotiated sales on installment in 2015 to the SM-Ayala Cebu consortium and FLI are deemed void.