Cebu City Councilor Raymond Garcia (left) with Councilor Joel Garganera (right) on Tuesday’s council session. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
THE Cebu City Council committee on laws yesterday withdrew a report that it was set to present for deliberation before the council and will instead again “redeliberate” on the matter.
The issue at hand concerned a proposed ordinance of Councilor Nendell Hanz Abella which aimed to allow the sale of three hectares of the South Road Properties (SRP).
Abella had filed a proposed ordinance for the sale of the three-hectare Pond F portion of the SRP at the cost of at least P110,000 per square meter or around three times the price of the 45.2 hectare lot sold by the city during the incumbency of Mayor Michael Rama which was priced between P35,000 to P38,000 per square meter.
During Tuesday’s council session, committee on laws chairman Councilor Raymond Garcia said that he wanted the proposal to go back to the committee for further deliberations.
“As far as I’m concerned, I see no point in having an ordinance instead of a resolution. There is no law that requires that an ordinance must be used in order to sell government property,” said Garcia who is a lawyer.
The move came a day after Mayor Tomas Osmeña insisted that an ordinance should cover the sale of the three-hectare area in the SRP which the city plans to sell for at least P110,000 per square meter.
Osmeña said that an amendatory ordinance was needed and not just a resolution because of an earlier ordinance that protected the sale of SRP lots.
He was referring to Cebu City Ordinance No. 2332, passed in 2012, which was meant to protect the SRP and its stakeholders from “unlawful and unauthorized transactions.”
The ordinance prohibits the sale of SRP lots without approval from the City Council.
A committee on laws report, which was supposed to be discussed during yesterday’s council session, would have suggested that passing a resolution for the sale of the SRP lot will be much easier and faster.
“The committee recognizes the advantage to the City in selling of the parcels of land at that price and thus suggests that the measure be contained in a resolution in order to expedite the process,” read the report, a copy of which was obtained by reporters.
The committee would have also suggested that the sale be done through public bidding and not through unsolicited proposals.
During the session, members of the council reminded Garcia that copies of committee reports should not be released to the public before it is approved by the council.
This after contents of the law’s committee report were published in newspapers prior to the council session.
Sought for comment, Osmeña said he will continue to push for the passage of the ordinance that would authorize him to sell the SRP lots.
“We are not going to break the law like they did. Maybe that’s their trap. We have to follow it the proper way. You want to amend an ordinance? You cannot use a resolution,” Osmeña said.