City Council asks Rama to defer payment of SRP lots

The Cebu City Council yesterday voted 10-3 to ask Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama to defer any action on the sale of two lots of the South Road Properties (SRP).

The action came on the eve of  Friday’s much-awaited ceremony, where Cebu City  expects to receive  P6.76 billion from  two winning bidders as the first half of their winning bid for the reclaimed land.

The  city  is also ready to issue the bidders a notice to proceed on that day.

Members of the  Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) bloc in the council yesterday closed ranks and raised old doubts about  the mayor’s authority to dispose of the lots by public bidding.

Three  allies of Mayor Rama in the council were absent in the crucial voting.

City Councilor Sisinio Andales cited  a recent legal opinion by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) central office.

The DILG said the  council’s resolution last year authorizing Rama to dispose of the lots through public bidding cannot supersede the 2012 City Ordinance No. 2332 which prescribed unsolicited proposals as the mode for disposing of SRP lots.

“We don’t want to be in trouble legally. Unless there’s a higher opinion, we should defer any action on the sale of the SRP lots by signing (the deed of) sale or receiving payment from the bidders,” Andales said.

The councilor said the bidding process so far is “highly questionable” and “invalid.”

Consortium

The consortium of Ayala and SM won the bidding for a  26-hectare lot  where the Calungod templete is located by  submitting  a P10 billion bid.

Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI) also won a 19-hectare lot with a P6.7 billion bid.

During the opening of the bids last June 30, the city government immediately received P1.6 billion as the  10 percent  bid bond from the two bidders, the single biggest payment made to Cebu city in a single day.

Before the voting yesterday,  Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella in a privilege speech asked the council to consummate the bidding process  and not get bogged down on “technicalities” because the city needs the money to fund its projects.

“The billions of pesos that the city stands to gain from the proceeds of the sale of a significant portion of the SRP and the billions more to be generated from the resulting business activity in the SRP are, without a doubt, game changers in the sense that with them, we can finally conquer the problems of flooding, inadequate basic social and health services, to name only a couple of the ills that have plagued us to this day,” said Labella.

He agreed that there’ s a need to be careful in selling the reclaimed land since  the 300-hectare SRP is a “treasure”.

He thanked former mayor Tomas Osmeña and Alvin Garcia, during whose terms  the SRP was implemented as the city’s largest centerpriece infrastructure project.

“But that care should be anchored on substance, not form, and on morality, not technicality.  Whether the partnership with the investors in the SRP was not done through negotiated sale or an unsolicitied proposal or however you name it, but through the more transparent public bidding, is of no moment.  The only question that should be asked is — is it beneficial to the City of Cebu?

The answer is a thunderous yes,” said Labella.

He pointed to section 3 of City Ordinance 2332 which provides that the council’s approval is needed to authorize any public bidding.

A resolution already exsits for disposal through public bidding and should be upheld,  Labella said.

Those who voted in favor of deferring action on the SPR sales were BO-PK members —  Councilors Mary Ann De Los Santos, Eugenio Gabuya Jr., Alvin Dizon, Lea Japson, Nida Cabrera, Margarita Osmeña, Nestor Archival Sr., Alvin Arcilla, Roberto Cabarrubias and Andales.

Councilors Gerardo Carillo, Noel Wenceslao and Hanz Abella opposed  th measure.

Councilors Richard Osmeña and Rama allies James Anthony Cuenco, Dave Tumulak and Phillip Zafra were not around during the voting.

In a July 30 letter to the Cebu City Council, DILG undersecretary Austere Panadero said last year’s resolution cannot supersede the 2012 ordinance which sets the guidelines in the disposal of the lots.

He said there are only two instances in which a resolution can have enough force and effect to repeal an ordinance.

Resolution

These include: (1) if the resolution is adopting a local development plan and public investment programs formulated by local development councils, and (2) if the resolution “has the formal and substantive requisites of an ordinance.”

“It appears that Resolution No. 13-0418-2014 cannot be classified as a resolution adopting a local development plan and public investment program formulated by the local development councils,” Panadero said in his letter.

“Further, it was not passed in the manner and with the statutory formality required in the enactment of the ordinance since the same has not been presented and approved by the City Mayor,” he added.

Prior to the opening of the bids last June 30, Andales gave a privilege speech where he himself pointed out that the resolution can’t supersede the ordinance.

The council then passed his resolutions to ask the DILG central office for its opinion on the matter and also to ask the city’s committee on awards to hold in abeyance the opening of the bids.

Challenge

But the opening of bids pushed through on schedule on Rama’s order.

Copies of the DILG’s opinion as well as the council’s action to defer any activity on the sale were furnished to the winning bidders, the Bids and Awards Committee and the Commission on Audit.

Councilor Carillo was quick to defend the city’s decision to dispose the SRP lots through public bidding and not through unsolicited proposals. He said the DILG’s word is a mere opinion.

“The resolution didn’t amend the ordinance. It even harmonized. There’s nothing to suspend. Let’s just wait for parties to go to court,” the councilor said.

He then challenged Andales to file a case in court regarding the city’s decision.

Consummate

“Why did we bother to ask for an opinion? Now that we have an opinion, since it doesn’t sit well, I suppose with the mayor, we just don’t mind it?” Councilor Margarita Osmeña said.