City dad asks Capitol to sell CICC to Mandaue

CEBU, Philippines - Calling the Cebu International Convention Center already a “white elephant,” a Mandaue City official has reiterated the city government’s interest to own the facility.

Mandaue City Councilor Diosdado Suico, chairman of the committee on city assets and properties, said Thursday he received a letter from Mayor Jonas Cortes endorsing the purchase of the property.

Suico dubbed the convention center a “white elephant” since it does not serve any purpose after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake on October 15 and super typhoon Yolanda on November 8 damaged it last year.

“(This is) the only possible way nga makapahimus ang Mandaue nga mu-maximize ang productivity sa mao nga lugar”, Suico added.

Before buying the center, though, Suico said they would have the City Engineer’s Office examine the condition of the building to determine if it is still structurally sound and to assess its value.

There were past allegations that the CICC was built using substandard materials, a criticism that Suico said will not affect their evaluation.

“Ang tan-awon nato ang kahimtang, ug angayan ba ‘to nga kantidad na paliton” (We will determine if the prize is commensurate to the current state of the facility,) he said.

The CICC is owned by the Province of Cebu while the lot where the convention center stands at is owned by Mandaue City. If left unused, the city councilor said that the lot will stagnate if the structure will not undergo rehabilitation thus the building will not improve if the city will not buy the CICC.

He cited an example as the North Bus Terminal, which was owned by the provincial government but was turned over to the Mandaue City government during the time of former Mayor Tomas Osmeña in 2007.

As soon as the city acquires the CICC, it would create a management committee to supervise it. —/RHM (FREEMAN)