City richer by P348 million by Thursday (South Road Properties)

THE Cebu City government will be receiving P348 million by Thursday as the Filinvest Land Inc. is set to make its first payment of the land it bought at the South Road Properties (SRP).

With the payment, the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), the city's escrow agent, will release to the Filinvest duplicate copies of the certificates of title for the sold property.

The title that would be released to the Filinvest today would still be under the name of the city but a deed of absolute sale would be issued so that the Filinvest could start working on transferring the titles under its name.



The city was supposed to get the first payment today, however, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) did not release the properties' technical description.

Cebu City Administrator Francisco Fernandez assured of getting the documents from the DENR before the 30 day period after the signing of the contract.

According to the Joint Venture contract between the city government and the Filinvest, the LBP has the obligation to release the duplicate copies of the land title to the possession and custody of the Filinvest upon the receipt of the payments. The city would also issue the deed of absolute sale of the property that was paid in installment basis.

The city entered into a Joint Venture contract with the Filinvest to develop a 50.6 hectare property of the SRP worth P25 billion.

The contract involves the development of the 40 hectare joint venture property as well as the purchase of the 10.6 hectare in Pond F.

“We have reviewed the documents and we are ready to sign,” said Fernandez, chairman of the Joint Venture Selection Committee (JVSC) for the Filinvest deal.

He said the City Council need not issue a resolution authorizing acting Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama to receive the first payment and to sign the documents pertaining to the sale and the transfer of title.

“A resolution is not needed as the contract was a catch all,” Fernandez said.

When the mayor was authorized by the City Council to sign the contract, it is already incumbent that the mayor will be signing all the documents which are the effect of the monumental signing of the JV contract last Feb. 2.

A representative of the Cebu City Hall was tasked to go to the LBP yesterday to have the title subdivided in the Registry of Deeds under an escrow arrangement.

REPORTER MARIAN Z. CODILLA