Garganera tells Filinvest: Explain city’s share in SRP development

Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera yesterday asked real estate developer Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI) to be transparent in providing updates about the joint venture agreement (JVA) that the company has entered with the Cebu City Government involving the development of a 40-hectare land at the South Road Properties (SRP).

Garganera, in a press conference, said he learned during an executive session last April 24 that the city government was supposed to receive a 10-percent share from the gross sales of each phase of development in the SRP property but the same is not spelled out in the JVA.

“I would very much appreciate it if Filinvest and the city government (would) clarify the agreement (to show) whether the latter will indeed receive 10 percent of the gross sales (from) each phase even after its completion, in order for the city to fully benefit from the agreement,” Garganera said.

According to Garganera, it was Tristan Las Marias, the senior vice president for Visayas and Mindanao of FLI who attended the closed-door executive session, who informed the city councilors of the city’s 10 percent share in the properties being developed by FLI in SRP.

Garganera also said he asked Filinvest to give them updates on its Master Development Plan, which serves as the company’s guide in developing the entire area they purchased from the city government under the JVA.

In response, he added, the company offered to bring city council members to an ocular inspection at Sanremo Oasis, a mid-rise, luxury condominium buildings at the City di Mare complex being developed under the Filinvest Cebu Property; and at Il Corso, the company’s mall complex being developed under Festival Supermalls Inc., a subsidiary of FLI.

However, Filinvest wrote him a letter seeking to postpone to a still undetermined date the visit that was initially scheduled last May 18, Garganera said.

“They claimed they are in pace with their Master Development Plan. But to my observation, there’s no development for their Phase 2. So what’s their basis? The site visit will spell out if there is indeed development for Phase 2 as well as (validate) their claim that they are already 90 percent (complete) with Phase 1,” Garganera said.

Cebu Daily News called the Filinvest office in Cebu for a comment but a staff, who asked not to be named for lack of authority to speak to the media, said there was no authorized officer around who could respond to the query.