Osmeña nixes Citicenter’s plan for high-rise building

Mayor Tomas Osmeña will not allow the owners of Citicenter Commercial Complex in barangay Kamagayan to build a 40-storey building there, saying that the city already decided to foreclose the property for non-payment of close to P6 million in taxes.

Osmeña rejected the appeal of Bal Falcone, reportedly one of the owners of the one-hectare lot where the commercial complex is situated, to allow him to construct a world-class condominium project in the property.

The Citicenter Commercial Complex, built in the 80s and located on Sanciangko and Junquera Streets, has two structures that were once used as wet market and had commercial stalls.

Gabriel Abear, a consultant of Sto. Niño de Cebu Developers Inc. that owns the complex, said the company failed to pay its tax obligation to the city because the tenants have failed to pay the rentals also.

Abear said there are two or three lots in Kamagayan that the company owns and the area on Sanciangko Street where the wet market section is located has no pending tax obligation.

In representing Falcone, Abear asked the mayor to give them two or three months more to look for funds to pay for the tax dues on the other properties of the company.

Osmeña however said the owners of the complex had ignored the demand letters of the city treasurer’s office and this prompted the city to auction the property a few years ago.

City treasurer Tessie Camarillo said the unpaid real property taxes of the complex, as of December 2003, already reached P4.2 million. She said that, under the law, the city could sell the properties of the delinquent taxpayer to cover the tax dues and the costs of the sale.

Should the auctioned property is not sold, then the city government through its treasurer could buy it instead. A delinquent taxpayer has the right to redeem the property, within a year from the date of sale, but he or she must pay two per cent interest on top of the amount of the property.

Osmeña said that since the redemption period had already lapsed, the city government would now move to forfeit the rights of the complex owners.

Abear however contended that the company could file a case against the mayor and the city treasurer if they would not allow the owner to redeem its properties.

“P200 million ang kantidad anang maong property unya ila rang imbargohon tungod sa gamay kaayong buhis nga wala kabayri?” he said.

Abear said that if Osmeña would grant the request, the company would enter into a joint venture with a foreign funding firm for the construction of the high-rise building.

There are other plans of the mayor however and he said the city would convert the place into a sunken park and pond, which would be designed to minimize floods in the downtown area during downpour. — Rene U. Borromeo/RAE