Osmeña: P18-billion Kawit Island deal ‘beneficial’ to the city

Former Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña. | CDN Digital Photo / Rashe Zoe Sophia Piquero

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Former Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has insisted that the P18-billion Kawit Island deal is and will always be beneficial to the city.

Osmeña, who spoke in a press conference on Saturday, October 21, said he wanted to correct misconceptions that the integrated casino and resort project placed the city government at a disadvantage.

“We get 10 percent of whatever they collect whether they get profit or not,” he said.

The former mayor said that under the agreement that he entered into with the Gokongwei-owned Universal Hotel and Resorts Inc. (UHRI), the city government was to receive 10 percent of the gross revenue that they would earn from the development project.

Osmeña clarified that the city’s share will not be based on the profit that they will earn but on the gross revenue that the business operations would get.

“If it becomes whatever the sales are 20 years from now, will we get 10 percent of that,” he said.

Businessman Crisiologo Saavedra earlier asked the Ombudsman-Visayas to investigate Osmeña for the Kawit Island Project.

However, the Ombudsman ordered dismissed the criminal and administrative complaints that he filed against Osmeña, members of his City Council and five UHRI executives for “lack of substantial evidence.”

Osmeña said he was happy that the complaints were dismissed.

But more than anything, Osmeña said that “I’m not interested in clearing my name. I am interested in protecting the city.”

Inaccurate information

In a press conference on Saturday, Osmeña said the information that Saavedra released were inaccurate.

He said that even his political rivals were under the impression that the UHRI project was detrimental to the city.

Osmeña said they never understood that demanding a share of the project’s gross revenue or its total earnings was easier to audit instead of just getting a share of the business’ profit or the amount of money that was left after all the operational expenses would have been deducted.

“I want the situation [to be] more transparent. It has a lesser opportunity for graft and corruption,” he said.

He added that if the business grows in the coming years, the city’s revenue share was also expected to increase.

And while he entered into a Joint Venture Agreement with UHRI, Osmeña said that the city does not have any role in the management of the resort and casino’s operations.

“You just go in and get your 10 percent and stay out of it,” he said.

In addition, Osmeña said he made sure that the agreement and the project’s implementation remains transparent and “not be susceptible to any undue political influence.”

Betterment of Cebu City

Osmena said that when Gokongwei offered to develop Kawit Island, he also “generously offered’ to allow him eight years of free use while underscoring the project’s commitment to the betterment of Cebu.

“It’s very advantageous in the city because they spent P20 billion on the construction right away. It’s not the city government that will get the P20 billion, it is the people of Cebu, the contractors, all the laborers, all the people of Cebu,” he said.

He said that those who opposed the project also failed to recognize that developments in the area would lead to the increase in the value of nearby properties.

“In the minds of the st*p*d in city hall, the city did not benefit. In my mind, the city is not the city government. The city is the city, the people themselves,” he said.

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