More projects are expected to rise at the South Road Properties with the Cebu City Council’s approval of the SM-Ayala consortium to develop a 26-hectare lot in the area. | CDN File Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — After three years, the land development permit of the SM-Ayala consortium for the 26-hectare property at the South Road Properties (SRP) has finally been approved by the Cebu City Council.
The permit was approved on Tuesday, November 5, by a divided Cebu City Council during its regular session with eight opposition councilors voting against the permit approval and eight administration councilors saying “yes” to its approval.
Councilor Nestor Archival, minority floor leader, said the permit should not be approved by the council because the memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the city and other pertinent documents were not notarized by a lawyer.
Councilors Leah Japson, Franklyn Ong, Raul Alcoseba, Jessica Resch, Eugenio Gabuya, Jr., Joy Young, and Alvin Dizon also objected to the permit approval and proposed to defer the approval for a week until the documents are notarized.
“It is not a valid agreement because the notary seal legitimizes the documents and they are dealing with the city government. Why do we have to hurry to approve this permit?” said Archival.
However, administration councilors led by Councilor Raymond Garcia, who serves as majority floor leader, said the MOA is valid as it is legally acknowledged by the city government as a binding form of contract.
Garcia, who is a lawyer, said a contract is binding as long as two parties agree on it.
Garcia noted that they will ask the consortium to notarize the documents.
Garcia, Jerry Guardo, Antonio Cuenco, Joel Garganera, Niña Mabatid, Philip Zafra, Donaldo Hontiveros, and Renato Osmeña, Jr. voted for the permit approval.
Since each side have eight votes, Vice Mayor Michael “Mike” Rama had to break the tie and chose to support the approval of the land development permit.
Rama said the approval of the development permit should have long been given to the SM-Ayala consortium as there are no legal impediments to the sale of the lot, which was sold during his term as mayor of the city in 2015.
Mayor Edgardo Labella said he welcomes this development as the city has long awaited this development to continue at the SRP.
Labella expects two million jobs to be generated from this development within a span of 20 years, which he said would benefit Cebu City residents and neighboring towns and cities.
In an interview on Wednesday, November 6, Labella said the city will “finally reap the fruits of the SRP sale” that was delayed due to the strong disapproval of former mayor Tomas Osmeña.
“We will finally see these developments that the Cebuanos have been waiting for,” he said. / celr