Cebu City Councilors still undecided on P18-B Kawit Island project

The Cebu City Council has been on a deadlock for nearly four hours now because of the refusal of the opposition bloc to pass the P18-billion Kawit Island project being pushed by Mayor Tomas Osmeña.

A resolution by Councilor Eugenio Gabuya Jr. that will authorize Osmeña to enter into an agreement with the Gokongwei-led Universal Hotels and Resorts Inc. (UHRI) is among the items discussed during the council session which started at 2 p.m.

If it will be approved, UHRI will fund the development of an eight-hectare property in Kawit Island that will include the establishment of an integrated resort and casino.

But Vice Mayor Edgar Labella is firm with his stand that Gabuya’s resolution seeking to authorize Mayor Osmeña to enter into agreement with the project developer is no longer valid because this has already been disapproved the last time that this has been discussed by councilors on May 22.

Labella said that the resolution should be reintroduced by those who voted against it in May before this should again be discussed by the council.

“Only those who voted against the resolution are allowed to reintroduce it,” the vice mayor said.

But Gabuya thinks otherwise.

He insisted that his proposed resolution remains valid.

Gabuya moved to divide the house so that his proposed resolution could already be voted upon, but Labella refused.

The BO-PK now holds the majority in the city council with 10 allied councilors as compared to the 8 councilors of United Barug Team Rama PDP-Laban.

Council members went on a break for the fifth time at 8:25 p.m. or almost four hours since they started to discuss Gabuya’s resolution at 4:30 p.m.