Cebu City P85M richer

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City government has received P85 million as final payment of SM Prime Holdings Inc. for a 30-hectare property at the South Roads Property where the SM Seaside City is located.

City Treasurer Diwa Cuevas said the payment was received last January 14.

SM Seaside City, the third biggest mall in the country after Megamall and SM North Edsa, opened last November 27.

Cuevas said the city government got the go signal from Land Bank of the Philippines to turn over the land title to SM Prime Holdings Inc. after the completion of the payment of the real property.

 “After they completed their payment, the next thing to do is to turn over the title of the property to SM. But we still haven’t scheduled the turnover yet,” Diwa told reporters.

SRP Management Office Manager Roberto Varquez said the city has not set a date for the turnover of the title because of two events that the city has prioritized.

He was referring to the Sinulog 2016 festivity, which concluded last Sunday, and the 51st International Eucharistic Congress this Sunday, January 24.

Cuevas said SM started paying for the P2.7-billion (P9,000 per square meter) property every 14th of the month after a quarter of the year since 2010 after closing a deal with City Hall.

The P85 million has been identified as part of the city’s sources of funds for the P6.4-billion annual budget this year.

Cuevas said that city can use this money, unlike the coming down-payment of three developers that won the bidding for two SRP lots totaling 45.2 hectares.

SM Prime Holdings, in consortium with Ayala Land-Cebu Holdings Inc., and Filinvest Land Inc., are expected to pay the city P2.7 billion this year as first installment for the SRP lots, which costs the three developers P16.7 billion.

Cuevas, though, said the city could not use P2.7 billion since the City Council has slashed the proposed budget for 2016 and removed the amount as a fund source.

The majority bloc of the City Council did so because of a case filed by one Romulo Torres, who questioned the validity of the sale before the court. — (FREEMAN)