Osmeña insists that City Council pass an ordinance to cover sale of SRP lots

An aerial photo of the South Road Properties ( SRP) .
CDN FILE PHOTO

IS a supplementary ordinance necessary or will a resolution be enough to sell a three-hectare portion of the South Road Properties (SRP)?

This was the crux of the discussion yesterday during the public hearing held during the regular session of the Cebu City Council on the sale of a three-hectare property at the SRP.

A proposed supplementary ordinance filed by Councilor Hanz Abella was for the approval of the sale of the three-hectare Pond F at a minimum price of P110,000 per hectare, and its sale will be done through bidding.

His ordinance aims to supplement Cebu City ordinance No. 2332, passed in 2012, which stipulates that the Chief Executive can only sell portions of the SRP with the approval of the City Council, and its mode of sale was for unsolicited proposals.

Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia, however, says it is not necessary to pass an ordinance because Ordinance 2332 only asks for council approval, which can be contained in a resolution.

In fact, he said, the resolution would not in any way amend the ordinance but rather support and supplement it as it would contain the approval of the council for the sale of the lots by the mayor.

But Mayor Tomas Osmeña insists that the council pass the ordinance, his contention being that the Department of Interior and Local Government opined that a resolution cannot amend an ordinance.

Osmeña said yesterday that an “amendatory ordinance” was needed and not just a resolution because of Ordinance No. 2332, 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.

“Do we need to amend an ordinance to sell the property? Is this a legal question? The DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government) already said that a resolution cannot amend an ordinance,” Osmeña said.

Osmeña said the current ordinance (No. 2332), any interested buyer can question the validity of a sale.

“What is the guarantee of the city government of Cebu that there is no conflict at all? How can you expect the buyer to shell out P3 billion on a property which is questionable? Right or wrong, it’s questionable,” Osmeña told the council.

City Hall sources, however, said the reason for Osmeña’s insistence on an ordinance to cover the sale of the SRP lots is to bolster his claim that the sale of a total of 45.2 hectares of the SRP done by former mayor Michael Rama to Filinvest and the Ayala-SM Consortium was illegal because the City Council then gave its approval only through a resolution.

The mayor attended the public hearing yesterday and told the council to resolve the matter.

“I hope you (council) can resolve this matter quickly,” Osmeña said.

He said the council should take consideration that they will be asking a buyer to shell out P3.3 billion and that no one in his right mind would come up with such amount if there is a possibility that the sale would be invalid.

During the council session on May 2, the committee on laws headed by Councilor Garcia recommended that instead of passing an ordinance, a simple City Council resolution allowing the sale would suffice to expedite the entire process.

Garcia reiterated that there is no really a question whether or not the city would sell the SRP.

He said that what they should question is the legality of making a supplementary ordinance to Ordinance 2332 considering that there is no argument over the sale of the SRP lots.

“So we will not get to any legal battle in the future,” Garcia said.