Waterfront Hotel cries foul over sale of Lahug property

An official of the Waterfront Hotel and Casino protested the Cebu City government’s disposal of a property located beside their hotel in barangay Lahug.

Vicente Lazaro, the hotel’s chief engineer, said they’re questioning why the city government sold the 2,357-square meter lot to Hotel Asia, Inc. in haste.

He said they want a review of the transaction and copies of the bid documents.

Lazaro said Waterfront Hotel management is asking the city government to hold in abeyance the sale of the lot until they’ve reviewed the bid documents.

“As a party in interest who stands to be adversely affected by any development to be conducted on lot 917, Waterfront has the right to challenge the validity of the bidding bid protest,” said Lazaro’s two-page letter.

Half the cost

The Cebu City Council agreed in their session last Wednesday to defer for a week the passage of a resolution authorizing Mayor Michael Rama to enter into and sign the deed of absolute sale and deed of conditional sale with Hotel Asia.

The council wanted the city legal office, the city’s awards committee and the council’s laws committee to review Lazaro’s protest and furnish them with a report in next week’s session.

They also referred a letter from Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III to Mayor Rama for his action.

Davide is asking for a share of half the cost of the lot which the Cebu provincial government donated to the city in 1964.

Acting City treasurer Diwa Cuevas said last December that the Cebu City government had to dispose of lot 917, a strip of land located beside the Salinas Drive access of the Waterfront Hotel and Casino, to raise about P80 million.

Conditional sale

She said Hotel Asia, the lone bidder for the property, made an outright payment of half the cost of their purchase after the company was named to have won the bidding.

Initial payment was made even before Rama could sign the deed of sale for the property.

It was only during the council’s March 12 session that Councilors Gerardo Carillo and Hanz Abella introduced their resolution authorizing Rama to enter and sign the deed of absolute sale and deed of conditional sale for lot 917.

Davide wrote Rama last Feb. 26 to ask that “in the event the sale materializes” that the province may receive half of the share of the proceeds to help the northern towns hit by supertyphoon Yolanda.

Lot 917 was among the province-owned lots donated to the city in 1964 for use as public parks and playgrounds. Davide said the lot now has an assessed value of P50,000 per square meter.

Adverse effect

Lazaro said Waterfront Hotel had communicated its desire to develop lot 917 in 2005 since “the lot is adjacent to the hotel”.

“Any construction or activity thereon may potentially have an adverse effect on the business and facilities of the hotel,” he said.

Lazaro said they were assured that they will be informed if the property will be put up for bidding.

He alleged that violations to the State Audit Code of the Philippines were made because of the city’s failure to properly disseminate information on the lot disposal through newspaper publications.

Waterfront Hotel Management did not receive a notice on the conduct of the bidding process held  from November 18 to December 2, 2013. / with Correspondent Peter L. Romanillos