Despite some amendments, Provincial Board (PB) Member Raul Alcoseba questioned yesterday the construction of a P350-million City Hall building in the City of Carcar.
“I believe that the people of Carcar don’t need a P350-million City Hall and they don’t need to transfer the public market to another site,” he told reporters yesterday.
Last year, the Carcar City government passed an ordinance amending the breakdown of a P600-million loan application at the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) to fund the construction of the first phase of a city center.
The project consists of a new city hall worth P350 million, a P160-million public market and a P90-million transport terminal.
Following the amendment, the public market now costs P245 million and the terminal, P5 million.
All city and municipal ordinances need to undergo PB review.
The approval of City Ordinance No. 29-15 was deferred to give way to Alcoseba’s motion for reconsideration in the board’s regular session last Jan. 25.
Alcoseba invited Carcar City Mayor Nicepuro Apura and other city officials to appear in yesterday’s regular session to address his concerns and issues regarding the project.
But Apura told the secretary of the board that he had another “prior commitment” on the day and asked to reschedule.
The mayor will instead appear before the PB during its regular session on Feb. 15.
Alcoseba, a Liberal Party (LP) ally, will be facing Apura of the Gullas-led Alayon Party in the elections this May.
“Whatever he will say, politics is politics. The only thing I want is to protect the people of Carcar,” Alcoseba said.
Apura said Alcoseba’s opposition is “100 percent politics.”
He said the loan had been approved last year. Work on the new City Hall building started in June last year and is expected to be completed by December this year, he said.
He said work on the new public market is expected to start this month and may be completed in 18 months.
The whole project is estimated to cost the city government P2 billion, which will also include a sports complex, livestock auction market and commercial spaces.
PB Member Grecilda Sanchez-Zaballero, chairperson of the finance committee, said she found Carcar City is capable of paying off the loan.