Mactan airport auction fails

CEBU — Bidders did not show up when the Lapu-Lapu City government auctioned properties of the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) the other day.

The city government carried out the auction after the MCIAA failed to pay real property taxes amounting to some P255 million.

A three-man committee was earlier formed to negotiate with the Lapu-Lapu City government for a tax payment scheme. The committee was composed of MCIAA general manager Angelo Verdan and private sector representatives Renato Osmeña and Gordon Allan Joseph.

MCIAA board member Antonio Oppus was also tasked to negotiate with city officials.

However, nothing came of the negotiations.

The other day, the Lapu-Lapu City government proceeded with the auction of the airport, including its terminal building, taxiways and airfield, in the absence of any court order to stop it.

The auction closed without any bidders. A certain Stephany Duterte showed up signifying her interest to bid on an 894-square-meter lot that the MCIAA owns in Barangay Basak. The property has a market value of P277,140.

But because Duterte was late in posting her bid, the auction was closed. Other than her, there were no other bidders.

Property owners were seen at City Hall but none of them joined the auction.

City counsel Vicente Joseph Lim said the property owners might have been discouraged from joining the auction because of apprehension that they might later find themselves embroiled in legal entanglements.

With the failed bidding, the city treasurer will issue a certificate of sale stating that the city government now owns the MCIAA properties.

The MCIAA, in turn, can redeem the properties within one year, and failing to do so, the city can sell them. — Freeman News Service