City Legal to UHRI: Stop Sugbo demolition

Subgo building | CDN file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Legal Office ordered the Universal Hotel and Resorts Inc. (UHRI) to stop the demolition of the Sugbo Builiding in the South Road Properties (SRP) as they had requested an investigation from the Commission on Audit (COA).

Lawyer Rey Gealon, city legal officer, said that UHRI must stop the demolition as the investigation would continue to find out whether an appraisal of the value of the building was conducted by the COA.

Read more: Cebu City Legal Office to start investigation on Sugbo building demolition

“Prudence, policy and protocol dictate that UHRI must hold in abeyance further demolition of the twin buildings and total destruction of the property in light of the need for COA to audit these government properties and comply with existing auditing rules and regulations, for Cebu City’s guidance,” said Gealon in a text message.

In a letter to UHRI, the City Legal Office requested a stop to the current demolition of the building until the COA has appraised the value of the Sugbo building in accordance to their regulation.

“Considering that an audit is required under Commission on Audit (COA) Circular No. 89-296 before government property is destroyed or condemned, it is best under the circumstances to refrain from engaging in further civil works until there is proper appraisal and compliance with other requirements,” said Gealon in the letter to UHRI dated July 22, 2019. 

UHRI had begun the demolition on June 2019 after getting the permit from former Mayor Tomas Osmeña. 

Read more: Labella calls for investigation of Sugbo building demolition

Mayor Edgardo Labella has ordered the City Legal Office to investigate the incident since there were no reports that the demolition underwent appraisal from COA, as should be for any government property. 

 With this, the City Legal Office has also written to COA to investigate whether the building underwent appraisal or not. 

“The Commission on Audit must inspect the property prior to its destruction to determine if there is justification for the same and to appraise the value of the property,” said Gealon in the letter to COA. 

Gealon said the building could only be condemned for demolition if the property would be unserviceable with no commercial value, or would be beyond economic repair, or there would be no willing receiver, and/or the appraised value would be less than the administrative cost of sale. 

He said he was hoping for the cooperation of UHRI in the investigation as the developer could still correct their move by replicating the demolished building with another building with at least the same value./dbs