Davide: P300M will go to hospital upgrade

Cebu Gov.r Hilario Davide III (2nd from right) shakes hands with Mandaue City Mayor Gabriel Luis Quisumbing after they signed the MOA for the sale of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC). The MOA signing was witnessed by Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale (right) and Mandaue officials including Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna (left).
CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA

Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III said that proceeds from the sales of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) will be spent mostly on the upgrade and the construction of more provincial and district hospitals in the province.

He made the announcement after he formally inked the termination of a joint venture agreement with Mandaue City for the co-management of the CICC and signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for structure’s sales to the city represented by Mayor Gabriel Luis Quisumbing.

Also present during the MOA signing held at the Capitol on Tuesday morning were Vice Governor Agnes Magpale and Mandaue Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna.

Under the MOA, Mandaue will pay P300 million for the structure built to accommodate participants of the 2006 Asean Summit. The structure stands on a 3.8-hectare lot owned by the city government.

Mandaue City will pay an initial amount of P200 million before the year ends while the P100 million balance will be paid on June 30, 2018.

The MOA says that Mandaue City can only take full ownership of the CICC after full payment has been made.

In a press conference that followed the MOA signing, Davide said proceeds from the sales will be put to good use.

“I assure you that the proceeds will be for our provincial and district hospitals,” Davide said.

Quisumbing, for his part, said that they are still ironing out details of their plan to convert the CICC into a commercial property through private-public partnership.

“As you know the property represents one of the most important areas of development in Mandaue and we are very happy today to explore new avenues and options for development… But we already spent so much on acquiring it (and) restoring the property will cost us more and I don’t think we can recover the costs,” he told reporters.

Quisumbing also gave an assurance that the around 1,000 fire victims who continue to occupy the CICC grounds will be provided with relocation.

“We actually visited the fire victims before the MOA signing was done and one of the concerns they raised was that they do not want to be transferred to areas outside of Mandaue City,” he added.