Council authorizes City to receive P5M for skate park

Planned skate park layout perspective
CDN file photo

The Cebu City Council has approved yesterday a resolution authorizing the city to accept the P5 million donation from Maria Victoria “Minnie” Osmeña for the construction of a skate park.

The resolution proposed by City Councilor Eugenio Gabuya III was deferred for a week after the Council decided to amend parts of the deed of donation which specified where the skate park should be constructed.

In the previous session, a suggestion was raised to eliminate the part which specified the lot for the park to make sure that the donation will still be given regardless of where it will be built.

Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera in the previous session stressed that specifying the lot where the park will be built should be filed in another resolution.

In this way, she said, the City Government is assured to get the P5 million donation regardless of where it will be constructed.

The amendment will also be specified in the deed.

Lot ownership

Meanwhile, Councilor Joel Garganera expressed his reservation about the park being built on a controversial lot.

During his privilege speech, he questioned whether the lot where the park was intended to be built and which is part of Lot 8-B at the South Road Properties belongs to the Cebu City government or to a consortium.

Garganera requested that the park should not, in anyway, subjected to a controversy since it will give false hopes to the people.

“If the intention of the party is to build a safe space for these skate boarders, why would we build a skate park in a property where there are still controversies to be resolved? Why would we give them (skate boarders) something that could be taken away?” Garganera asked.

Councilor Margarita Osmeña however, assured that Minnie, who is the sister of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, will still donate the P5M regardless of where the park will be constructed.