Dad on junking Kawit JVA deal: Gov’t is delivering public service

THE thrust of government is not to venture into businesses but to deliver public service.

Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera said this amid Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmena’s accusation against opposition councilors about them sending away investors when they junked the P18 billion Kawit Island Joint Venture project.

Garganera, who is a member of the Barug Team Rama, said that the opposition did not intend to decelerate progress but only judged according to what should be the thrust of the government.

“I am for the project. But the mode to be used to implement it should not be through a joint venture because the thrust of the government is not to venture in businesses but to deliver public service,” said Garganera.

He said that the Gokongwei-led Universal Hotels and Resorts Inc. (UHRI), which proposed to go into a joint venture with the city government to develop Kawit Island, should instead lease the eight-hectare property if they would wish to develop their structures.

“Joint ventures are very risky because it is dependent on the market force. You know how it is in business. Your need is permanent but if your source of income is dependent on the market force, that to me is very unstable,” said Garganera.

“ The thrust of the government is not to engage in business but to deliver services,” he added.

Garganera said that a lease agreement would be more amenable for the city since it would yield a stable income.

He also said that the city should learn from the mistakes committed when it entered into a joint venture agreement with Filinvest to develop a 40-hectare portion of the South Road Properties (SRP).

“Remember Filinvest from 10 years ago. This year, they are only paying P8,000 per square meter because they have not yet started any development in the second phase of the 40 hectares,” said Garganera.

Garganera said that the joint venture contract with Filinvest had a guaranteed amount of P8,000 per square meter or the sale of available space.

However, City Councilor Eugenio Gabuya Jr., a Bando-Osmena Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) member who sponsored the resolution for the Kawit joint venture agreement, said they would not agree to Garganera’s suggestion to lease the eight-hectare property instead of the city going into a JVA.

He said that they had already opened the contract for suggestions when they formed the ad hoc committee which was tasked to review the contract.

“Nganong wa man na nila gi-apil sa recommendations? (Why did they not include that in their recommendations?) We already had the revisions and those were approved by the entire body. That was not brought up ,” said Gabuya.

Gabuya also said that he planned to re-introduce the resolution for the joint venture agreement.

He said that the recent development of BO-PK allies dominating the barangay elections would be a good sign especially if the incoming Association of Barangay Council (ABC) president would come from their block.

“That would be better so they (Barug PDP-Laban) can no longer block the mayor’s projects. But regardless if we have the number or not, we will surely re-file it,” Gabuya said.