Raps eyed vs councilors who stopped SRP payment

CEBU, Philippines - Tension is brewing stronger at the Cebu City Hall.

Lawyer Joey Daluz III, a consultant to the mayor, said the executive department is eyeing at charges against the 10 councilors who backed the resolution, which stopped the receipt of the P6.75 billion payment for lots at the South Road Properties.

“We’re studying that ha… the act sa atong 10 ka konsehales because this has caused us so much injury (to the City of Cebu). City of Cebu, which is the people and they are a part of, but sila maoy nagbabag ana,” Daluz told reporters yesterday.

Daluz is head of the special technical working group for the SRP.

On August 5, in a 10-3 vote, the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan-dominated City Council, passed a resolution asking the executive department not to accept the partial payment of P6.75 billion from the winning bidders.

Earlier, the city received a bid bond of P1.63 billion.

The councilors passed the resolution after the Department of the Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Austere Panadero opined, “we are of the view that Resolution No.13-0418-2014 cannot validly supersede and/or amend City Ordinance No. 2332.”

The “adverse” legal opinion of DILG states that the resolution the council passed last year, which authorized Mayor Michael Rama to negotiate for the sale of SRP lots, cannot supersede the ordinance the body approved in 2012, which asked interested buyers to submit an unsolicited proposal.

The council then decided to defer any act related to the sale of lots at the SRP since the public bidding undertaken through the passage of the resolution was reportedly “highly questionable.”

However, Daluz said DILG’s opinion is “superficial,” stressing that they were not reading the contents of the resolution and the ordinance in question.

“DILG should be circumspect sad unta because when we say it’s a resolution amending an ordinance, ila unta gitan-aw ang contents whether ang content is amending the ordinance. Wa man sila motan-aw sa contents. Ingon raman sila a

resolution can’t amend an ordinance. Of course, that’s basic. But wa man sila mo-dwell sa what is the subject matter of the resolution and what is the ordinance,” he said.

“There’s a very good reason for the bidders to be worried about paying the 50 percent because there’s a resolution from the City Council. Ang pangutana diha, di ba criminally liable ang council? Ang 10 kabuok? Because they’re causing injury to Cebu City by passing this resolution suspending the payment,” Daluz contended.

The 10 include councilors Sisinio Andales, Margarita Osmeña, Nestor Archival, Alvin Arcilla, Alvin Dizon, Roberto Cabarrubias, Nida Cabrera, Lea Japson, Eugenio Gabuya and the rumored-BOPK member Mary Ann de los Santos.

“That’s an anti-graft (passage of resolution preventing the city to receive the payment). That’s causing undue injury to Cebu City. And there is no reason there. No enough reason or grounds to suspend the payment. They (Councilors) know that. And this is just about politics. This is about 2016,” Daluz said.

Daluz said it is hard to explain the benefits that the SRP sale would gua-rantee to city when political reasons will be implied.

“I think it’s very sad for Cebu City. Klaro kaayo nga obstructionist ni atong 10 ka councilors. I think they know by heart and in their mind that this is a very good sale,” he said.

“Resolution suspending is just a sentiment. It’s just a request because it runs counter to the earlier resolution giving authority to mayor to sell. Ang ila lang gyud is to instill fear sa bidders. Mao ra man gyud to,” Daluz said further.

The three councilors who voted against the passage of the resolution are Team Rama councilors Gerardo Carillo, Noel Eleuterio Wenceslao, and Nendell Hanz Abella.

Councilors David Tumulak, Richard Osmeña, James Cuenco and ex-officio member Philip Zafra were absent during the session.

Sought for comment, Mayor Michael Rama said he will support the case against the councilors, if it will be filed.

“When we talk about standing (for) what is right, then action has to be done so that lesson will have to be made. That (filing of complaint) would be a part, among others, of what we will have to be doing. Not on our behalf but in behalf of parenspatriae so that message will have to be delivered and received loud and clear,” he said.

Parenspatriae is the doctrine that grants the inherent power and authority of the state to protect persons who are unable to act on their own behalf legally.

Bidding

On June 30, the city’s Committee on Awards bid out 45 hectares at the SRP and declared the consortium of Ayala Land, Cebu Holdings Inc. and SM Prime Holdings as highest bidder with P10.009 billion for a 26.3-hectare property while Filinvest Land Inc. was the highest bidder with P6.7 billion for a 19.2-hectare property.

The winning bidders are expected to pay the 50 percent of the total bid price amounting to P16.7 billion as down payment. The 50 percent includes the P1.63 bid bond that the city already received from the investors of SRP lots. The city is set to issue the notice to award to the winning bidders.

Daluz, however, said that the bidders cannot take back the P1.6 bid bond.

Ronald Tumao, Vice President for Market Research and Planning of SM Prime Holdings, said, “we have yet to receive any formal notice of the Cebu City Council resolution. As soon as we receive a copy of the resolution, we will study it and decide our course of action.”

Filinvest Land Inc. Vice President Allan Alfon, meanwhile, said they are also awaiting further developments from the central office.

Andales stands by his decision that the deferment of payment is the “proper” thing to do.

“(It’s only proper because) there’s a legal question whether the resolution with the basis of public bidding can amend, supersede ordinance which is for solicited proposal. Si Mike (Rama) gud, i-push through gyud, mura’g hardheaded kaayo ba. Mura’g tuo niya nga siya na gyud ang hawod. The opinion of DILG is better than the opinion of Mike,” Andales said.

Meanwhile, City Administrator Lucelle Mercado admitted that there are City Hall employees who were sad over the postponement of the payment since the executive department is eyeing at using the money for the productivity enhancement incentives for employees.

It was Andales who authored the resolution, asking the executive department to release P78 million for the PEIs to City Hall employees and officials equivalent to their one month salary. — /JMO (FREEMAN)