In a move that transcended political parties, the Cebu City Council on Tuesday finally passed an ordinance authorizing Mayor Tomas Osmeña to sell another three hectares of the South Road Properties (SRP).
Despite their disagreements on the matter, 13 councilors, including Team Rama allies James Anthony Cuenco, Phillip Zafra, Edu Rama and Jose Daluz III, voted in favor of the ordinance filed by Councilor Hanz Abella of the Bando Osmeña Pundok–Kauswagan (BO-PK).
Four other councilors allied with former mayor Michael Rama — Councilors Raymond Garcia, Joy Pesquera, Joel Garganera and Pastor Alcover Jr. — abstained from voting.
Aside from Cuenco, Zafra, Rama and Daluz, those who voted in favor of the ordinance were Councilors Abella, Sisinio Andales, Margarita Osmeña, Joy Young, Jerry Guardo, Eugenio Gabuya Jr., Alvin Arcilla, Dave Tumulak and Mary Ann de los Santos, all members of BO-PK.
While the main argument between the two blocs in the council remained — whether or not the authority for the mayor to sell should be made through an ordinance or resolution — in the end, majority of the councilors agreed to just pass the ordinance.
The controversial ordinance supplements City Ordinance No. 2332 passed in 2012 which allows the mayor to sell portions of the SRP with approval from the council.
The mother ordinance states that the “preferred” mode of disposal would be through unsolicited proposals.
P110K/sqm
With the new ordinance, the mayor is now authorized to sell three hectares of the SRP lots through public bidding for the price of at least P110,000 per square meter. This will give the city a revenue of at least P3.3 billion.
It also states that payment can be made in full or in two installments with 50 percent to be paid upon signing of the sale documents and the other 50 percent upon approval by the Commission on Audit (COA).
The turnover of the property will be done only after full payment of the winning buyer.
“We have to make it (sale) unquestionably legal to protect the buyer from any legal dispute or legal impediments since they will be paying more than P3 billion,” Abella said during the council’s deliberation on his ordinance yesterday afternoon.
For their part, Team Rama councilors who abstained from voting explained that they were all for the sale of the SRP lots, but they either found no need to pass a new ordinance authorizing the mayor or found some things lacking in Abella’s proposal.
“I am for the sale. But I abstained since there should be a submission on their (bidders’) capacity like having P500 million in assets, having five years of experience in the industry. I also wanted to see a ratio of 65 percent buildable spaces and 35 percent open spaces (for the lots to be sold),” said Garcia.
Garganera said that even if he was in favor of the sale of SRP lots, he would have wanted Abella’s ordinance to be a “stand-alone ordinance” which would give the mayor authority to sell, instead of being just a supplementary ordinance.
For her part, Councilor Pesquera explained that she abstained from voting as she would have wanted to see a report from the committee on appraisal regarding the price of the lots to be sold which she believed could fetch a higher price of P200,000 per square meter.
Faster way
Earlier, the committee on laws, which used to be headed by Councilor Garcia, reported that the mayor’s authority to sell the lots could be given through a resolution which would be faster, instead of an ordinance.
But Abella and Mayor Tomas Osmeña, during a public hearing on the proposal last June 20, insisted that an ordinance to supplement City Ordinance 2332 was needed.
Abella cited an opinion by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in 2015 which stated that a mere resolution cannot amend an existing ordinance.
A supplementary ordinance, Abella explained, was also necessary since the mother ordinance stated that the preferred mode of disposal was through unsolicited proposals and not through public bidding.
Security of investors
Although he believed that a resolution was enough to authorize the mayor to sell the lots, Councilor Rama explained that he voted in favor of Abella’s ordinance for the “security” of future investors.
“I just stated my opinion that the last transaction in 2014 was legal in my opinion and in the opinion a lot of lawyers,” Rama said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, City Hall sources claimed in a talk with CDN that Osmeña and his allies had insisted on passing Abella’s proposed ordinance in order to validate Osmeña’s long-held position that the former mayor Rama erred in selling SRP lots on the basis of a resolution.
Rama had sold 45.2 hectares of the SRP lots during his incumbency to developers, Filinvest and the SM-Ayala Consortium.
Osmeña has moved to rescind the sale on the ground that it was “illegal” as it “superseded” City Ordinance No. 2332.
Last February, Filinvest and Osmeña announced that they will be rescinding the sale of the 19 hectares of the SRP which Filinvest bought during the Rama administration, while the SM-Ayala Consortium continued to keep mum on the issue.