CEBU CITY, Philippines—Former Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmeña said the P316 billion investment of the SM-Ayala Consortium at the South Road Properties (SRP) is simply a diversion to the legal issues surrounding the sale of the 45-hectare property.
The consortium will be breaking ground on the multibillion project on January 29, 2020 in a 26-hectare lot that is a part of the disputed 45-hectare property.
One of the major investments in the project will be a 16,000-seater arena.
Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella expects the multibillion investment to provide 2 million jobs for Cebuanos through direct or indirect trade.
For Osmeña, this investment will only come to woe as the legal battle over whether the sale is legal or not still continues.
He has filed a petition for preliminary injunction with prayer for temporary restraining order to declare illegal the 2015 sale of the SRP property to the consortium and Filinvest.
“Mayor Labella is promising the moon in order to downplay the serious legal obstacles to the SM-Ayala project,” said Osmeña through his legal counsel, Lawyer Amando Virgil Ligutan.
“Contrary to what the city legal office said, cases against the project are still pending with the courts. Some cases were just filed recently; and some more have yet to be filed. No businessman in his right mind will invest in a project that is legally flawed from its inception,” he added.
Read: Court junks Tomas O’s TRO bid against sale of 45 hectare SRP lot
In previous statements, Labella insisted that the sale was legal because the lower and apellate courts have junked a motion by a certain Romulo Torres voiding the SRP sales.
Lawyer Rey Gealon, Cebu City legal officer, said there’s nothing more to expound about the case.
Read: CA 18th division: Sale of 45-hectare SRP lot to FLI, SM-Ayala Consortium was legal
“Their rehash arguments were already waylaid in courts, so to pounce on those same arguments again would be an overkill,” said Gealon.
The city government has accepted the P16 billion payment of the consortium and Filinvest for the sales of property.
Labella said there is no legal impediment in the development of the lot.
“The city’s strong legal position on the matter always wins the day versus their empty rhetoric,” Gealon said. /bmjo