Fate of Kawit Island development uncertain

Cebu City Councilor Jose Daluz III / CDN PHOTO/MOREXETTE MARIE ERRAM

Can the allies of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña in the city council reintroduce the resolution covering the P18-billion joint-venture agreement (JVA) for the development of Kawit Island in South Road Properties (SRP)?

Opposition Councilors from Barug Team Rama-PDP Laban think they cannot.

In a press conference on Friday, Councilor Jose Daluz III said only those who voted against the resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a JVA with a Gokongwei-led developer, can revive it.

The council, voting nine to eight, junked the resolution during their session last May 12, to the consternation of the mayor.

Daluz claimed that the house rules only allow members of the council who voted against the resolution to reintroduce it. Its approval would need a two-thirds vote.

“It is common knowledge in any parliament, that it can only be brought back to the floor by someone who voted against it,” Daluz said.

This would mean that even if the administration bloc Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) can claim majority of the council, the
P18-billion JVA cannot prosper.

But the mayor remains optimistic that securing the majority in the council will mean the realization of the Kawit development project.

Charges

For his part, Osmeña is still determined to press charges against Daluz, and two other opposition councilors, Raymond Alvin Garcia and Renato Osmeña Jr. for allegedly voting against the resolution they endorsed.

But both Daluz and Garcia belied Osmeña’s claims, saying they only signed the committee report of the ad-hoc committee, tasked to scrutinize the legal, technical, and financial aspects of the P18-billion JVA.

Daluz also said there’s no legal basis for the mayor to sue them, and that the threat was just his “political ploy” to get back at the opposition for prohibiting his administration from entering into the JVA.

“It wasn’t just the ad-hoc who approved the committee report. In fact, it was the entire council,” he added.

But Osmeña just said “let them answer that in court.”

Had the council approved the JVA, Universal Hotels and Resorts Inc. (UHRI), could have started developing the eight-hectare property into an integrated resort after 30 days.

Deal

Councilors from Barug Team Rama concurred with the points raised by Councilor Joel Garganera that the 90-10 percent sharing scheme would be disadvantageous to Cebu City.

UHRI gets 90 percent while the city government will receive 10 percent of the shares of development sales.

Garganera instead proposed a straight lease.

“If we base our income on the market forces, you have to bear in mind that the needs of the government are permanent. And if our source will only depend (on the sales), that’s not right. That’s why I opted for a straight lease because that’s permanent,” he added.