Tuesday, March 24, 2009 [ sunstar.com.ph ]
CEBU CITY -- A congressman has vowed to initiate a House inquiry into what he described as an "anomalous and highly irregular" agreement to develop the South Road Properties.
"I'm very interested in how they (City Hall officials) mangled the laws in this case," Rep. Pablo John Garcia (Cebu, 3rd district) told a press conference Monday.
The inquiry will only be pushed, however, after Capitol receives a copy of the deal entered into by the Cebu City Government and Filinvest Land Inc. and the transaction has been scrutinized.
"It will depend on what is on the signed agreement," Garcia explained, noting he won't proceed with his plan if he finds it to be above board.
Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, Pablo John's sister, has already asked Mayor Tomas Osmena to furnish the Provincial Government a copy of the agreement.
"We have all the moral obligations and rights to demand for that signed agreement. It involves billions of pesos in a 50.6 hectare property which, up to now, the Cebuano taxpayers have been burdened by debt servicing," the governor said.
City Hall declared Capitol ineligible when it participated in the pre-qualification bid to challenge the unsolicited offer of Filinvest.
Provincial Planning and Development Officer Adolfo Quiroga confirmed that the letter, which was addressed to Osmeña and coursed through City Administrator Francisco Fernandez, reached City Hall at 2 p.m. Monday.
Safeguards
Osmeña said if the governor really wants to further scrutinize the deal, she is welcome to get a copy of the signed agreement because the City has nothing to hide.
The governor may get the copy from Fernandez "because I don't have a copy myself, I don't have it in my files," he added.
He also defended the agreement, insisting it followed all rules and has safeguards that will protect the interest of the City Government.
"I don't know, maybe I have too much chemicals in my brain but I don't understand what she's (Garcia) talking about. There are inherent safeguards in this deal," Osmeña said.
The mayor stressed that the Commission on Audit (COA) is currently studying the joint venture contract as part of the post-audit process before it approves the transaction.
"COA is still approving it because, as a rule, they will approve the sale of any government property. That's the process, we do the deal then they will approve, that's part of post-audit," he explained.
Titles
Also, the City cannot turn over titles of SRP lots to FLI until they have paid for it, which Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) will guarantee.
"LBP has the titles as collateral for our loan. They won't release the titles if it will jeopardize their interest," Osmeña told reporters.
As the conduit bank for the City's loan for the SRP, he said that presumably, LBP will not release to any party the land titles if loan payments are not made.
"I just think the Province has no projects of their own, I really pity them. The Suroy-Suroy Sugbo, CICC, their highway, even their Kabayo Festival is a failure. If they want to pick on us, that's fine too. I don't mind discussing the SRP because that's my pride," Osmeña said.
Master plan
But Capitol consultant Rory Jon Sepulveda Monday presented more allegedly questionable provisions in the agreement.
Section 4, he said, states that "Filinvest shall contribute all costs and expenses directly related to the horizontal and vertical development and subdivision...in accordance with the Master Development Plan."
But Section 5 also states that "...Filinvest shall prepare and submit to Cebu City a Master Development Plan...within one year from the commencement date."
It added: "The Master Development Plan may be changed, amended, supplemented or altered by Filinvest by giving written notice to Cebu City at least 90 days such change, amendment, supplemental or alteration is made."
"How can one be sure of payments made when the Master Development Plan is not yet existence? Worse, Filinvest seems to have full power and authority to change, amend, supplement, or alter the same," Sepulveda noted.
Inquiry
Pablo John said he will personally ask House Speaker Prospero Nograles about his plan to conduct an inquiry and will ask some allies in Congress to help sponsor the move.
He expects House Deputy Speaker Raul del Mar (Cebu City, north) to block the proposal but he will also seek the help of his father, Rep. Pablo Garcia (Cebu, 2nd district), himself a deputy speaker.
Pablo John said that, among other issues, he wants to check the veracity of the information he received that the lawyers of Filinvest were the ones who drafted the agreement, while City Hall had no output at all.
The joint venture with FLI includes the outright sale of 10.6 hectares of beach front lots at P15,000 per square meter, and the joint venture activities on a 40-hectare portion. (GMD/LCR/Sun.Star Cebu)
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