contributed photo
WILL the casino, amphitheater, convention centers, hotels and the promised 5,000 jobs materialize on Kawit Island soon?
Yes, as far as Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña and the Gokongwei-led Universal Hotel and Resorts Inc. (UHRI) are concerned.
Osmeña and UHRI President Frederick Go finally inked the P18-billion Isla dela Victoria Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) to develop the eight-hectare Kawit Island, which used to be a stand alone islet that now forms part of the reclaimed South Road Properties (SRP).
“P18 billion will now be infused into Cebu’s economy by the hiring of construction workers, drivers, electricians, technical and secretarial staff, suppliers, security guards, etc,” Osmeña said in a Facebook post shortly after the signing.
“For the first time in history, the South District of Cebu City, long ignored by developers, will become richer than even the North! With the future developments to come, Isla dela Victoria will turn the SRP into the shining beacon of the Visayas!” he added.
The ceremonial signing was done in Crowne Plaza Galleria at the Ortigas Center in Quezon City yesterday afternoon in the presence of Cebuano tycoon John Gokongwei Jr., who owns and operates JG Summit Holdings Corporation.
No TRO
The deal pushed through amid a failed attempt by a village councilman to secure a temporary restraining order (TRO) from Branch 23 of the Cebu City Regional Trial Court (RTC).
A staff of the court told Cebu Daily News that presiding Judge Generosa Labra instead scheduled a hearing for the petition for injunction filed by Barangay Busay Councilman Amilo Lopez on Thursday, August 23.
In his 10-page petition, Lopez claimed that UHRI, the development arm of JG Summit Holdings, has no financial capacity to carry out an P18-billion project.
He also said that the firm is ineligible to enter into a JVA with the city government since it will run contrary to City Ordinance No. 2154 (An Ordinance Prescribing Guidelines and Procedures for Entering into JVAs).
The ordinance requires that private partners in the city’s joint ventures must have completed a “project of similar land use and costing at least 75 percent of the JV activity being applied for.”
Developing Kawit Island in SRP will be UHRI’s first venture.
Legal issues
Lopez, an ally of the opposition United Barug Team Rama, added that the resolution authorizing the mayor to sign the JVA was invalid since the council has already adjourned when it was approved by administration-allied councilors.
But for lawyer Amando Virgil Ligutan, legal counsel of Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK), there is no legal impediment with the signing of the P18-billion deal despite the pending petition.
“None at all. The argument is baseless. It only shows that the opposition is hell-bent in blocking the signing and implementation of the JVA,” Ligutan said.
“They do not realize that the people, as can be observed on the ground, really want the Kawit Island project to proceed. The signing of the JVA is momentous for everyone, and auspicious for the next generations of Cebuanos,” he added.
The project is being named Isla dela Victoria to honor slain Bantay Dagat leader Jojo dela Victoria, whose relatives were present during the ceremonial signing yesterday.
Also present were BOPK Councilors Margot Osmeña, Sisinio Andales, Dave Tumulak, Alvin Arcilla, Mary Ann Delos Santos, Joy Augustus Young, Jessica Resch, and Eugenio Gabuya Jr. It was Gabuya who authored the resolution for Osmeña to sign the JVA with UHRI.
Sought for his comments, Cebu City Vice Mayor Edgar Labella, who is from Barug, told CDN in a phone interview that the signing of the deal cannot escape from legal repercussions.
“Why the hurry (in signing with the JVA) when it is surrounded by legal questions?” Labella said.
“They did it anyway but there are still legal questions that need to be addressed and considering that the matter is now before the courts of law, it’s beyond us (council) already,” he added.