MISAMIS Oriental Governor Yevgeny Vincente "Bambi" Emano said three companies are interested in leasing and developing a part of the provincial capitol grounds.
Emano said SM, Ayala Corporation, and real estate development company Filinvest have submitted their unsolicited proposals to the province.
He said the three companies are racing and offering the province different proposals for the leasing arrangement.
One proposal, he said, is that the company will build both the new provincial jail in Initao and provincial capitol in Alubijid.
"Ang isa nga nag-propose for example, sila ang magbuhat sa kapitolyo ug jail, pero dili sad makadawat ug bahin sa pila ka tuig ang kapitolyo kay ila pang bawion ang ilang gi-invest, pero sugot ko ana (The one who proposed for example, is they will construct the captiol and jail, but they will not give us an amount for years since they will have to regain what they invested and spent for the construction)," he said.
"But for me, mas maayo nuon ning proposal nga walay kwarta nga giabot sa amo aron dili magduda ang tao unya buhatan lang dayon mi og bag-o nga kapitolyo probinsyal ug jail (This proposal is better because then there will be no money involved so people won't doubt us, as long as the construction of the jail and capitol are sure and certain)," Emano said.
According to the “PPP Manual for LGUs (local government units),” PPP is a contractual agreement between the government and a private firm targeted towards financing, designing, implementing and operating infrastructure facilities and services that were traditionally provided by the public sector.
Emano noted that specific arrangements of the contract which will be entered into between the province and the private company will still be discussed once the Public-Private partnership (PPP) ordinance gets approved in the Provincial Board.
He said when this comes, he expects that other companies would also express their interest for lease.
"Nagtuo ko nga daghan pay dagko nga kompanya muduol sa ato kay kining kapitolyo, prime kaayo nga yuta, naa sa heart sa city, so daghan interested ani (I believe that other big companies will still approach us, because the capitol area is a prime area, it is located in the heart of the city)," he said.
For Vice-Governor Jose Mari Pelaez, the PPP ordinance, which is in second reading, has to be carefully studied to make sure that there will be no loopholes in the contracts.
"Yes I agree with the jail transfer. If the price is right, because it will be leased daw, so we should get as much funds for the capitol," he said.
"The SP will decide not only on the PPP, but also the contracts that will be created out of the PPP ordinance," Pelaez noted.
The towns of Initao and Alubijid are the chosen area where the provincial jail and the provincial capitol, respectively, will be transferred.
The jail will be situated in a 2 hectares area, donated by Initao town Mayor Gogoy Acain, while the capitol will take 50 hectares of the 300 hectares land area owned by the University of Science and Technology Southern Philippines (USTP) in barangay Lourdes, Alubijid.
Emano said the transfer of jail and capitol could help ease the traffic situation in the city, and at the same time, it could also help develop growth areas and development centers in Misamis Oriental.
The provincial jail has a division for men and women inmates, minors, and for mentally-challenged prisoners.
It will also contain a learning center for the minors and livelihood center for the adults.
"Para at least bahala ug naa sila sa sulod naa silay kita gihapon for their families outside (So that even though they are inside the jail facility, they still have income to provide for their families outside.