‘Former mayor’s debt worse than Mt. Pinatubo eruption’

ANGELES CITY – Delivering his first state-of-the-city address, Mayor Francis Nepomuceno said two “white elephants” continue to haunt the city government with indebtedness worth P361 million which he described as worse than Mt. Pinatubo’s eruption disaster in this city.

In his address attended on Monday by city officials and select local leaders at the SM City-Clark mall, Nepomuceno said when he sat as mayor, he found the city government  “with a depleted cash reserve and a huge debt balance amounting to P361,086,147.”

He described the state of the city’s economy he inherited from former Mayor Carmelo Lazatin, now a congressman representing Pampanga’s first district, as worse than the disaster wrought by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991.

“The payable amount this year is P122.4 million with a whopping monthly amortization running at P10 million. It even surpasses the mathematics of disaster during the 1991 Pinatubo volcanic eruption. This is a man-made disaster,” he said in his speech.

Nepomuceno blamed the bulk of the city government’s debt on two “white elephants” he identified as the downtown San Nicolas public market and the city slaughterhouse, both built during the term of Lazatin. Both structures were not used despite their completion even during Lazatin’s administration arising from controversies.

He noted that the San Nicolas public market was built from a P309.8 million loan whose amortization is P2.7 million a month. The problem on the market has been compounded by conflicts among vendors who were initially displaced by its construction, he said.

Nepomuceno also cited the slaughterhouse as problematic, not only because it was built from a loan whose principal loan and interest rate amounts to P44.7 million, but also because it could not be used since its design runs contrary to government standards.

Nepomuceno reported that he has created a market advisory council to look into the San Nicolas market problem. He also initiated dialogues with conflicting vendors that led to the awarding recently of 178 stall certificates on June 30, finally to enable the first batch of vendors to move into still vacant stalls in the building.

He also said that he has talked with the LandBank and the Development Bank of the Philippines for the extension of the amortization period for the loans for the market project.

“Through these measures, we project an income of P288,000 monthly and P3.4 million yearly,” he said.

On the other hand, the slaughterhouse has been leased out for 25 years to Dealco Farms Inc. “We expect an average of P200,000 monthly income from rental, as well as from post morten and anti-mortem fees from this deal, “ the mayor said.      – Ding Cervantes