The people of Cebu City happily welcome the latest sale of two lots in the South Road Properties (SRP) to an SM-Ayala consortium and Filinvest who joined the June 30 public bidding.
The SM-Ayala consortium submitted a bid of P38,000 per square meter while Filinvest’s bid for another lot was P35,000 per square meter.
Finally, Cebuanos can benefit from the sale of the reclaimed land which will fund budgets for the delivery of basic services and implementation of important infrastructure projects in the city. Cebu City immediately gained P1.06 billion from the initial payment of the 10-percent security bid for both properties with the condition that the whole price would be fully paid within 3 years with an interest of 6 percent per annum.
Mayor Mike Rama was so happy with the sale which is good news for Cebu City residents, the real owners of the property, whose taxes went to paying for the Japan loan that was secured from a bank to finance the development of the 300-hectare SRP.
Initially the Bando Osmeña- Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) headed by former mayor Tomas Osmeña opposed selling SRP lots under the Rama administration. He wanted the sale made only after the SM’s Seaside City complex was completed.
Luckily, the Cebu City Council authorized the mayor to sell several hectares through public bidding. Then when the bidding for the two lots was set up, the BO-PK attempted to stop the bidding, saying that a resolution cannot supersede an ordinance. The timing of the issue raised by Councilor Andales was highly questionable. Andales had the opportunity to raise that question long before but did not.
The way I see it, they did not expect big companies to participate in the public bidding. But the exercise proceeded and everything is part of history. The revenue will serve the welfare and interests of the people of Cebu City.
It is not clear whether the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) would render an unfavorable opinion on the city. We also don’t know whether this would affect the sale of the SRP lots.
I think it is best for BO-PK to support the sale and perform its function by scrutinizing the contract of sale between Cebu City and the winning bidders.
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Former Cebu governor Lito Osmeña raised a valid question about the status of the proceeds paid by GMR-Megawide for its 25-year concessionaire agreement to construct and manage a new international airport.
Instead of answering the question raised by Osmeña in an open letter, President Aquino was angry and said he felt “insulted” by the insinuation that the money would benefit the Liberal Party in the next election. He said the P14.4-billion premium paid by GMR-Megawide was intact in the national treasury and may be used for any valid purpose as agreed by the congressmen.
Aquino said the money was not stolen by his administration and, in a dig at Osmeña’s being a distant figure by himself, said Osmeña should look for somebody to talk to. The former Cebu governor retorted that he did not accuse the Aquino administration of stealing the money but just asked where the money in the airport deal is going because the MCIAA charter states that revenue earned by the airport must be used for the MCIA.
This is a legitimate question especially since Cebu is not getting much help when it comes to national government projects and the P14 billion would go a long way in improving facilities, such as construction of a second runway for the MCIA.
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