Vendors welcome Carbon Market supplementary MOA

CEBU, Philippines —  The Carbon Alliance has welcomed the move of the Cebu City Council to draft a supplementary memorandum of agreement (MOA) to the Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) for the Carbon Market modernization project between the city government and the Megawide Construction Corp.

However, the group is firm in its position that the JVA should be scrapped.

In a seven-hour session, the both camps of the City Council went head-on in their debate as to whether the council should rescind the contract or fix it instead since Vice Mayor Michael Rama, who is currently acting mayor, has pointed out certain issues in the contract.

The most pressing issue was the proposed amendment of the Market Code of the city because the vendors were allegedly not consulted for such.

The minority bloc comprises of Councilors Nestor Archival, Alvin Dizon, Raul Alcoseba, Franklyn Ong, Leah Japson, Joy Augustus Young, Eugenio Gabuya Jr. and Jessica Resch objected to adopt the MOA or make any changes to the current JVA unless it was to rescind it.

However, they were outnumbered by the majority bloc with 9-8 votes in favor of the adoption of the MOA as a supplementary measure to the JVA.

“The amendments practically acknowledged most concerns the Carbon Alliance raised about the JVA. It sought to ‘cure’ what the councilors think are wrong with the JVA. In a sense, this opens the possibility of a more inclusive and open dialog on the development of the Carbon market,” said Anne Marie Sipalay-Ariosa.

The multi-sectoral group earlier filed a petition for a temporary restraining order (TRO) in court to stop the project.

However, Carbon Alliance lawyers pointed out shortcomings in the council’s proposed changes.

Lawyer Ian Manticajon highlighted other issues like the need for public and competitive bidding.

“Instead of a minimum number of 120 days to be granted to potential challengers in case of an unsolicited proposal, only 10 days was granted,” said Manticajon.

He cited Annex B of City Ordinance 2154 and the NEDA Guidelines of 2013, stating that the 120 days is minimum and mandatory.

“It is a command that cannot be disregarded. Unless this issue of bidding is squarely addressed, the JVA contract still faces a serious obstacle. In our jurisprudence, genuine bidding is essential to validity of contracts,” he said.

Other concerns include Cebu City Hall’s ownership of the whole lot covered by the JVA.

Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia said that the adoption of the MOA does not mean it will be automatically approved because once the City Council drafts this, it will then go to the executive department including the JVA Selection Committee, and Megawide, before returning to the City Council for final approval.

Still, Ariosa expressed hope that this development would lead to discussions of alternatives to the Megawide plans.

“We look forward to a clean and better Carbon Market that benefits all the vendors, not just a selected few who favored the Megawide project. A better Carbon Market would continue to sell cheap goods for Cebuanos and neighboring provinces, not to the rich world-class tourists,” said Ariosa.

“In the proper time, with consultations of volunteer architects and urban planners, we will unveil our proposals,” she added. — GMR (FREEMAN)