By Marian Z. Codilla, Reporter
A DAY before leaving for the United States, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña signed a memorandum of agreement with the Visayan Electric Co. (Veco) to distribute power in the South Road Properties (SRP).
The mayor is scheduled to board a 12:45 p.m Cathay Pacific flight direct to Los Angeles together with wife Margot and only son Miguel.
Osmena said he will return to Cebu City on the first week of May after his surgery for the removal of his urinary bladder.
Osmeña, who has stage 4 cancer, attended to his City Hall duties with a full schedule yesterday.
He showed no sign of fatigue and told some reporters it was all right to remove their hospital face masks because he was feeling okay.
Veco agreed to provide electric power to the SRP and charge the businesses in the area the same rate as customers in the rest of Metro Cebu.
The agreement also stated that Veco will pay the city an access fee of P0.20 per kilowatt hour to be charged to the businesses and reflected in their monthly statement of accounts.
Cebu City Administrator Francisco Fernandez said the SRP is considered part of Veco's franchise area so the no public bidding was needed.
THE Cebu City Government and the Visayas Electric Company (Veco) yesterday signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the utility firm to supply power to locators of the South Road Properties (SRP).
Mayor Tomas Osmeña said Veco will just charge the rate it collects throughout its franchise area while giving the city a P0.20 share per kilowatt hour.
Panagbenga 2009 blog
Osmeña, however, failed to mention that the MOA contained a provision where Veco can actually apply for an additional P0.20 as “access fee” from locators, which would be collected once approved by the “regulatory authority.”
It is the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) that approves all applications for rate adjustments and other charges by distribution utilities like Veco.
“The Access Fee shall appear as separate line item in the monthly statements accounts from the Distributor (Veco) to the Locators. Distributor shall exert reasonable efforts to obtain the approval from the relevant Regulatory Authority, when
applicable and necessary, for such application,” read Section 3.2, Article 3 (Rates and Billings) of the agreement.
And when open access and retail competition are implemented, Veco will continue collecting the access fee for the City, which “shall first cause each locator to execute an agreement for such continued charging and collection of the access fee.”
The same section also stated that if the “regulatory authority” orders Veco to stop collecting the access fee and return what was collected, the City Government should immediately return the total access fee it received.
Veco president Dennis Garcia and senior vice president and chief operating officer Jaime Jose Aboitiz signed the MOA for the utility company.
Section 3.1 also stated that Veco will charge its existing ERC-approved rates “in the meantime when electrical load of the
Ecozone (SRP) is not yet established.”
“When the electrical load of the Ecozone stabilizes, the Distributor shall apply with the Regulatory Authority, when applicable
and necessary, new rates specific for the Ecozone, and implement the same upon its approval,” it said.
The same portion of the agreement stipulates that an annual review of the electrical load of the SRP will be conducted to determine if there is a need for power rate adjustment, which the Veco should again apply for approval with the ERC.
The mayor said awarding Veco the right to provide power to SRP locators did not go through a bidding because they agreed that the property, though declared as an economic zone, is still covered by the utility company’s franchise.
Yesterday’s signing of the agreement signaled the availability of reliable power source for investors of the SRP, which became the topic of Osmeña and Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia’s renewed word war.
Yesterday, Osmeña again told the Capitol to just file a case if it saw something anomalous in the deal between the City and the Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI).
He said FLI officials felt insulted for being threatened with a congressional inquiry for entering into a joint venture agreement with the City.
“They have never felt being insulted like this. They asked what have they done on the SRP (to merit the criticism). I said nothing, just the vindictiveness of the governor. If they (Capitol officials) saw something illegal, why don’t they just file a case?” Osmeña told a press conference.
He, however, said enticing other investors to the SRP will not be as hard as that with FLI, which took him “four Sinulogs.”
The Sinulog is an annual event held every third Sunday of January in Cebu City.
Rep. Pablo John Garcia (Cebu, third district) has threatened to call a congressional inquiry on the FLI transaction, which involved the outright sale of 10 hectares and a joint venture with the City for 40 hectares.
Rep. Garcia said the deal is anomalous and disadvantageous to Cebuanos. Osmeña denied the accusation.
“I’m very proud of what I have done,” he said, reiterating that the Capitol is welcome to get a copy of the agreement and scrutinize it. (RHM)
By Marian Z. Codilla and Doris C. Bongcac, Reporters
LEGALLY defensible.
So said Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña of plans for a congressional inquiry into the joint venture contract between the Cebu City government and Filinvest Land Inc. on 50 hectares of South Road Properties (SRP).
Osmeña said that while he was unhappy with the call by Rep. Pablo John Garcia for a congressional inquiry, the Capitol's accusations of irregularities were “pure harassment.”
“It's just pure harassment...(the province has) nothing else to do. They can make panglawgaw (a mockery of) the contract but it is very defensible and I am very proud of it,” Osmeña said.
He said he and other officials were ready to face the congressional inquiry.
Osmeña said that while he didn't sign the deal, he constantly negotiated with Filinvest for several years.
The deal between the city and the province is a mixture of outright sale and a joint venture (JV).
The Filinvest will enter into a joint venture with the city if it will allow them to purchase a 10.6-hectare portion in Pond F of the SRP.
Filinvest is also required to enter into a profit-sharing arrangement with the city on the 40-hectare property.
Garcia said he received text messages from several lawmakers who supported the inquiry, excluding his father Deputy Speaker Pablo Garcia of Cebu's second district.
“They (the lawmakers) said they are ready to sign the resolution and it encourages me because without asking them, they volunteered to help. But I need to get their signatures first,” Garcia said.
He said the inquiry will determine if the city complied with all the laws in its dealings with Filinvest.
“If there is something anomalous, the guilty party will not only be public officials who signed the deal but also private people who pushed for the deal. The inquiry is needed so that future investors will avoid entering into agreements that are anomalous,” Garcia said.
The inquiry, he said, would also guide future investors “on what can be done and what can't be done to avoid any criminal liability.”
Garcia said he will push for the inquiry on the Filinvest deal when Congress resumes session on April 13.
He said that he may later request the Senate to also look into the deal.
Garcia said he would not name the Cebuano legislators who sent him text messages, saying Osmeña also has as an ally in Congress Rep. Raul del Mar of Cebu City's north district.
Rep. Ramon “Red” Durano VI of Cebu's fifth district said he needs to familiarize himself with the issue first before making a decision.
Rep. Antonio Cuenco of Cebu City's south district said he also wanted to know the purpose behind the inquiry.
Rep. Garcia said a congressional inquiry was because the Capitol was not getting “straight answers” from Cebu City Hall.
He suspects that a city lawyer was not involved in the drafting of the JV agreement, the reason why it favors Filinvest's interests.
“Maybe if they are under oath they will tell us what really happened,” Garcia said.
He said plunder charges would be filed against certain persons if the results of the inquiry showed there were anomalies in the billion peso Filinvest deal.
Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said she wanted to know the conditions behind Filinvest's acquisition of the 10.6 hectares.
She also wanted to know why the Capitol was not allowed to challenge Filinvest's unsolicited proposal despite being financially capable.
By Jully Venus Cuizon, Correspondent
A well-paying job in a call center and a chance to earn a master's degree in the same work site is a “strategy” that may pay off for Cebu City and the University of the Philippines.
If this attracts the “brightest workers” in the region, business is sure to follow.
Five hectares of reclaimed land in the South Road Properties (SRP) were donated to the state university, which will build a graduate school within the next three years.
As a condition, UP Visayas Cebu Campus will offer a master's degree in business administration (MBA) evening program and continuing education in the English language.
UP President Dr. Emerlinda R. Roman and Cebu City Mayor Tomas R. Osmena signed the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on the donation of 51,372 square meters of land yesterday.
“We are firmly establishing our right and competitiveness of Cebu in the future,” said Osmeña during the signing ceremony at the Social Hall of the Cebu City Legislative Building.
“I would like to see the day when Cebu will be producing 3,000 MBA graduates a year and all employees of call centers. These services will be offered to regional headquarters in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and other parts of Southeast Asia whose workers will come to Cebu for their master's degrees.”
Roman said UP would move quickly to build the school and will likely offer the MBA program this June, starting with classes in the existing UP Cebu campus in Lahug.
She said she and other UP officials were impressed with the mayor's dream “to make Cebu the first city of choice in the country and not just an alternative to Manila” and that UP has a role here in human resources development.
Before the signing, Mayor Osmeña sat down with the UP officials and suggested ways to partner with the private sector to get the facilities and programs up and running.
Present in the signing were Councilor Hilario Davide III and other city councilors, UPVCC Dean Enrique Avila, members of the Board of Regents, visiting UP officials from Diliman, businessman Manuel Go, SRP Marketing Director Joel Mari Yu.
Another condition of the deed of donation is that UP shall consider the project as its flagship Centennial project to offer programs in the fields of computational science product design and packaging, communications design, management, sciences, mathematics and the arts and humanities for the Visayas and ASEAN regions.
UP shall not convey in whole or in part the property to any third party. The deed of donation was approved by the City Council on March 4, 2009.
In his speech, Mayor Osmena said the partnership is a bold step for Cebu City and UP to make Cebu more “competitive” in a globalized economy and improve the workforce in Cebu and was an initiative being taken “without waiting for the central government” to act.
The mayor said he would like to see “educational courses geared to the lifestyle” of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) workers. For example, an employee who gets off a graveyard shift could just go downstairs from his office to attend an MBA class because the schedule fits his reporting time.
He said BPOs abroad would favor having their employees get an affordable MBA degree in Cebu where workers have good people skills and a desire “for a better life.”
“The city government is not using SRP simply as a business of real estate. We want to do something extra with it and as I promised, we are looking for ways and means to help develop the economy of Cebu.”
Bong O. Wenceslao
THE controversy over the Cebu City Government’s deal with Filinvest Land Inc. to develop a portion of the South Road Properties (SRP) has just gotten interesting, what with Capitol firing questions at will from the trenches. The biggest offensive would definitely be the House inquiry that Rep. Pablo John Garcia is preparing.
Let us see how a City Hall with “only” Acting Mayor Michael Rama (Mayor Tomas Osmeña is set to go back to the United States for surgery) at the helm would counter that assault. Will Reps. Raul del Mar and Antonio Cuenco man the ramparts in Osmeña’s defense by blocking the initiative at the House of Representatives?
I won’t dwell on who got the commission from the transaction. I would leave that to Bobby Nalzaro who has been harping on the issue in his columns and commentaries for days now. Commissions, even if they run to millions of pesos, are difficult to expose simply because those involved have the ability of cats.
The past days, there has been this odor emanating from somewhere in our kitchen. Which reminded me of my lola, Nanay Bunding (may her soul rest in peace), who used to punish our cat each time it leaves its excreta inside our house. Nay Bunding it was who told us city-bred kids about the special talent of cats: hiding the evidence of the crime.
Both the giver and the receiver of commissions (or in the terminology of the corrupt, SOP) are legally liable for the act, thus the tendency to clam up. In the end, what is left for the public to pick up from the crime scene are rumors and hearsay evidence, which is akin to the smell emanating from well-hidden cat excreta.
What caught my interest in Capitol’s tirade against the City Hall-Filinvest “joint venture” is the project’s development thrust, the same point I raised when the agreement was not yet signed. (The phrase joint venture is in quotation mark because there is logic in the contention that the agreement sounds more like a sale, with Filinvest given the sole authority to decide on what to do with the lots.)
Section 1 (b) of the agreement partly states that, “Filinvest and Cebu City shall jointly develop the Joint Development Properties into an integrated and well-planned clusters of medium rise residential buildings and retirement and congregate care complexes with adequate and necessary public infrastructure that includes roads, public utility networks and sewage system.”
After all the hassles the city and its residents have gone through in constructing this prime piece of property, including the diversion of money intended for basic services to the payment of the SRP loan, and we get only this: another subdivision area? No wonder a Japanese consultant chided the Filinvest project as having “low potentials for job generation.”
Why the haste in inking the deal with Filinvest when the city could have put the SRP to a better use (as an industrial or commercial site) had it waited for better deals later? Selling the SRP to the SM group, for example, would have been much better considering its expertise in developing sites for commerce. Turning a big chunk of the SRP into a subdivision is to kill the land’s potentials, making the area moribund.
Mayor Osmeña boasted often that the SRP is his baby. It now looks like the welfare of this baby is of lesser concern to the father than his own interest.
HARASSMENT. That’s how Mayor Tomas Osmeña described Rep. Pablo John Garcia’s vow to initiate a House inquiry into the Cebu City Government’s agreement with Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI) on the sale and development of South Road Properties (SRP) lots.
He, however, was unconcerned, saying the Capitol can keep and scrutinize its copy of the joint venture agreement with FLI.
“I’m not happy with harassment. But let me tell you that Congress is not a court. They want to use Congress as a court because maybe they can influence the congressmen, but Congress is not a court,” Osmeña said.
Several Cebuano lawmakers support the proposal to conduct a House inquiry on alleged anomalies in the joint venture, Garcia (Cebu Province, 3rd district) said.
“They said they’re ready to sign any resolution to that effect. It encourages me because without my asking them, they volunteered to help,” Garcia said in a press conference yesterday.
He said the House inquiry will become a venue for the public to check whether the multi-billion-peso deal conforms with the law. If the sale and joint venture agreement are proven to be irregular, City Hall officials might even be held liable for plunder, he added.
Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, the congressman’s sister, has also asked Mayor Osmena to furnish the Provincial Government with a copy of the signed agreement.
Terms
Osmeña reiterated there are safeguards in the agreement, particularly on the need for FLI to construct buildings instead of merely selling lots.
The City stands to earn from the outright sale amounting to P1.546 billion for the first three years, and from its 10-percent share in the sale of built-up units in the 40-hectare area, or a minimum guaranteed return, whichever is higher.
The properties covered by the joint venture are supposed to be developed in 20 years, at 10 hectares for a maximum of five years.
Last March 6, FLI turned over to the City a P348-million down payment for the SRP lots it will develop.
“The Filinvest deal is a very unique joint venture that is designed to improve our economy,” Osmeña said, explaining that unlike other transactions, that with FLI prevents the company from merely selling lots.
“They cannot earn money selling land. So to make money, they have to build,” Osmeña said.
Bad mood
This way, he said, jobs are created since construction workers, security guards and maintenance personnel would be needed.
He also questioned the Capitol for criticizing the arrangement—10 hectares in outright sale and 40 hectares in joint venture with Filinvest—saying it was the offer the City received.
“Are we going to go kill a 50-hectare transaction because the Province is in a bad mood, that we have to separate them (10-hectare sale and joint venture) as if they (Capitol officials) own the property? We were interested in the joint venture because that joint venture is the one that will really start to create livelihood for the City of Cebu,” he said.
City Hall earlier declared the Province ineligible when it participated in the pre-qualification to challenge Filinvest’s offer.
Reached for comment, Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz (Cebu Province, 6th district) promised to support Garcia’s proposal for a House inquiry “for transparency’s sake.”
Rep. Ramon Durano VI (Cebu Province, 5th district), however, said he will reserve his comment until he gets the details of the agreement.
Guide
Congressman Garcia said a House inquiry will guide future investors to steer clear of anomalous government deals or irregular provisions.
He criticized the mayor for saying that the Commission on Audit (COA) is studying the joint venture contract as part of the post-audit process before it approves the transaction.
“What is he talking about? If they don’t have the approval (of COA), how can they peg the price at P15,000 per square meter? COA needs to approve it,” the congressman said.
Whenever government disposes of property, the congressman explained, among the requirements is an assessment by state auditors of the property’s value.
“If the mayor says the COA does not approve it, then they have no business entering into this deal. That’s another strange revelation,” said the congressman. (RHM/GMD)
By Marian Z. Codilla and Doris C. Bongcac, Reporters
The joint venture agreement between the Cebu City government and Filinvest Land Inc. may undergo congressional scrutiny if City Hall refuses to give a copy to the Capitol.
Rep. Pablo John Garcia of Cebu's 3rd district said he will ask help from his father, Deputy Speaker Pablo Garcia and other allies to call for an inquiry into the agreement in aid of legislation when Congress resumes session on April 13.
Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia sent a letter to Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña at his office about 2 p.m yesterday, asking for a copy of the signed agreement with Filinvest.
The agreement covers 50.6 hectares within the South Road Properties (SRP).
She said she wanted to know the grounds behind the Capitol's disqualification from challenging Filinvest's unsolicited proposal as well as the document's signatories.
Capitol consultant Rory John Sepulveda showed the media the provincial government's analysis of the joint venture agreement.
Governor Garcia questioned why the 10.6 hectare prime lot of SRP was disposed of without public bidding.
A copy of the draft JV agreement obtained by the governor's office mentioned that Filinvest will submit their development master plan to the city within one year from the agreement's effectivity.
Sepulveda said a portion of the draft agreement mentioned that “Filinvest can alter the master plan by issuing a 90-day notice to the city.
A 20-year period was also issued to Filinvest to develop infrastructure facilities in the SRP.
“Is an integrated and well-planned cluster of medium rise residential buildings and retirement and care complexes consistent with a Central Business District type of development?” Sepulveda asked.
Congressman Garcia said the planned review of the JV agreement should not be interpreted as retaliation for Osmeña's move to stop commercial development of province-owned lots.
“Would anybody else have cared?... You should thank the province for taking the cudgels in the interest of public good,” the governor said.
The mayor questioned why Governor Garcia made allegations about anomalies in the SRP agreement.
“Maybe I have too much chemicals in my brain but I don't know what she (Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia) is saying,” Osmeña said.
He said the Land Bank of the Philippines will not release the titles of the SRP property unless it receives the proceeds paid for by the city to them.
The LBP, he said, will issue the sold titles to the buyer.
The mayor said Vice Mayor Michael Rama signed the agreement since he was acting mayor at the time while Osmeña was undergoing chemotherapy sessions in the United States.
“I didn't work out the details. I didn't have the copy because I didn't signed it,” Osmeña said.
In the meantime, the Cebu City government will sign a memorandum of agreement with the University of the Philippines Visayas Cebu College for the use of the 5.1 hectare donated lot in the SRP at the mayor's office.
The lot is intended to house a graduate school for call center employees working at the SRP area.
Mayor Osmeña said under the setup, call center employees will earn a masteral degree while working through their schedule.
“They don’t have to go home because the classes will be timed to the work schedule,” he said.
Osmeña said the investor for the building will lease to the call centers and build the classrooms but will not pay the land.
“The city's tagline will be 'if you want an MBA, work at SRP,” Osmeña said.
He said Cebu will be able to produce several thousand of MBA graduates a year.
Osmeña said they will compete with Singapore and Hong Kong in building a regional headquarters for outsourcing businesses.
Amid the proposed new UP graduate building at SRP, UP alumni and students will hold a black T shirt rally to protest the closure of the UP High School to be discussed by the UP Board of Regents on March 26.
The Cebu City Council passed a resolution last year opposing the closure.
The UP Cebu High School is a laboratory and training ground for Education students in UP College.
But UP Cebu College said it is unable to subsidize the high school’s budget.
“The UP Administration should heed that clamor of the alumna's opposition and to continue the operation of the UP High School,” Councilor Hilario Davide III told .
AN EDUCATIONAL facility planned for the South Road Properties (SRP) will help attract locators to the Cebu City project, Mayor Tomas Osmeña said yesterday.
Cebu City will donate five hectares of SRP land to the University of the Philippines Visayas College-Cebu for putting up a facility that will offer information technology and masteral degree courses.
Osmeña is scheduled to sign the deed of donation today.
Master’s degree
Once the facility is set up at the SRP, call center agents of companies in the SRP will be given the opportunity to finish a masters degree at a convenient location and schedule.
“If the call center agent will finish work at three o’ clock in the morning, then classes can start at 3:15 a.m. downstairs. They don’t have to go home to change,” Osmeña said.
The mayor said this will attract “bright employees” who are qualified to work in call centers but refuse to do so because they see it as a “dead-end job.”
“This is designed not to attract the call center locators but designed to get the good people to work there because, where good people are willing to work, we know the call center operators will follow,” Osmena said.
Osmeña said the City aims to create an environment where call center employees will not want to work anywhere else except in the SRP.
The mayor sees Cebu City producing at least 3,000 holders of masters degrees yearly.
He said he feels very strongly for the project since it will appeal to “many bright young minds.”
“In this phenomenon of globalization we have to be the first to adjust, we have to be the first to react,” he said.
Last night, Osmena hosted a cocktail party at the Casino Espanol for the business process outsour-cing (BPO) industry. It was attended by at least 70 representatives from BPOs and Cebu business groups.
Listening
The mayor assured investors he is listening to their concerns, like the need to improve the educational system through better ties with the industry.
Osmeña said that in order to address concerns on the small number of graduates equipped with minimum requirements to work in a call center, BPO companies should identify and quantify the problem.
He said they should tell the city what to do. (DME)
By Ferliza C. Contratista Andrene U. Borromeo Updated March 11, 2009 12:00 AM
CEBU, Philippines - “To create Cebu City’s economic future, through the SRP, is my priority.”
Thus, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said, will be his priority during the welcome gathering late afternoon yesterday attended by close to 3,000 city hall employees, barangay officials and workers, who waited despite the rain.
Osmeña, dressed in a floral printed polo, appeared jolly and proud of his head he intentionally shaved due to excessive hair loss brought by seven rounds of chemotherapy treatment for his cancer of the urinary bladder.
He said his top priority for his two-week return to Cebu City is the finalization of developments at the 302-hectare South Road Properties (SRP), a project he initiated in 1994.
“There is this recession that is heating up not only in the US but in other parts of the world, it is my dream to make Cebu more and more self reliant, to be one of the richest, if not the richest city in the entire Philippines,” Osmeña said.
Osmeña said the first time he sat as Mayor in 1988, he sensed that Cebu City was short of cash and had to look for other sources of income, that was why, he worked and fought for the SRP.
“It will be very competitive in the next two to three years, but I can say we are well positioned despite dark clouds in the horizons, we cannot rely on America, we must not rely on the national government,” he said.
Osmeña said he wants Cebu to be able to adjust to a changing world and to develop a new kind of economic culture.
He said an economic milestone had occurred while he was away in Houston, Texas, with the signing of the P25 billion-joint venture contract with Filinvest Land Incorporated, the SRP’s first sale.
Osmeña said he will work on the policy direction of the SRP and make a follow through with other clients and locators.
The signing of the contract to him is not success in itself, but a beginning of more work especially with the looming recession.
Osmeña explained to the crowd that the city loaned P3 billion in 1998 for the SRP, but the amount had ballooned to P6 billion due to inflation.
Each square meter of land at the SRP, Osmeña said, now costs the city around P2,000.
With FLI buying the first 10 hectares at P1 billion or P15,000 for every square meter, the City earned for itself around P13,000 per square meter. That is why, Osmeña said, he wants the senior citizens to be the first to receive the fruits of the SRP sale.
“Para sad sila makatilaw, we are giving them a lump sum of P2,000 their birthday and Christmas gifts,” he said.
He said there were many who offered, but he rejected these as these were not favorable to the city.
“We have to help FLI make a lot of money because it would shoot up the value of the rest of the SRP,” he said.
He said he will be in Manila tomorrow to talk with officers of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to discuss the foreshore lease applications and to meet with the next in line locators.
Although he does not want to disclose the names of these entities, but there are reports negotiations are about to be finalized with Pueblo de Oro Consortium and SM Prime Holdings Incorporated.
Osmeña will be visited by no less than President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on the evening of the 13th for a personal visit.
He said he does not have any major issue to discuss with the President except that he will again make followups on the other necessities of the SRP.
Mayor’s Health
In his close to 30-minute speech, Osmeña also briefed the people about his health condition.
He said that once he will return to Houston, Texas on March 30, he will be subjected to a surgery at the MD Anderson Cancer Center where his doctors will finally remove the portion of his urinary bladder that has cancer.
The mayor had already undergone chemotherapy sessions just to kill the virus and to prevent the cancer from affecting the other parts of his body. “Mao na nga naupaw na ko, apan mobalik ra gihapon pagtubo ang akong buhok,” he said.
One up to 10 days every after a chemotherapy session, the patient will have weaker resistance due to the strong radiation, and usually the patients will only regain their strength after 10 days.
Osmeña admitted that he was about 60 per cent weaker yesterday although he is now slowly gaining back his strength.
There was no hand shaking between the mayor and his political supporters and friends after the speech, because he was quickly escorted by the security personnel to his office at the eighth floor of the City Hall annex building.
Despite several visitors, Osmeña granted the media an interview and he admitted that his doctors haven’t assured him that he is already out of risk.
Even after the doctors will be successful in removing the portion of his urinary bladder that has cancer, Osmeña said there is no assurance yet that he is already safe.
After the removal of the cancerous portion of Osmeña’s urinary bladder, the mayor will be subjected to a general check and evaluation of his condition.
When asked how he felt now compared to those months before he was subjected to chemotherapy, Osmeña said, “Mora lang g’yod og wala ko’y problema sa lawas.”
The mayor said his doctors did not prevent him from eating any kinds of food, although he was discouraged from taking acidic food and drinks. —/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)
CEBU CITY -- Mayor Tomas Osmeña arrived Tuesday morning, immediately took over from Acting Mayor Michael Rama, and spoke of preparing the local economy for “dark clouds on the horizon.”
In a press conference, Osmeña said resolving the manifesto of some barangay captains who pushed for a Raul del Mar-Tomas Osmeña tandem in the 2010 elections is not his priority. Rama will resume working as vice mayor for two weeks.
During these weeks, Osmeña said he would rather focus on meeting more potential investors for the South Road Properties (SRP) and help Filinvest Land Inc. earn more money.
“Whatever the problem is, it is the problem of the vice mayor. I’m not going to waste my time taking up this issue,” he told reporters immediately after addressing a crowd gathered at the Plaza Sugbu outside the Legislative Building.
He said he will not waste his energy trying to sort out the issues, as he wants to leave his mind fresh to attend to his priorities in the two weeks that he is back as mayor.
City Administrator Francisco Fernandez said the mayor has to be back in the United States on March 28 for surgery.
His priority, Osmeña said, is “to establish a policy direction for the SRP,” and to meet with other interested investors of the SRP, whom he declined to identify.
He is also meeting with FLI officials in a dinner Wednesday night to assure them that helping the company “earn a lot of money” is foremost on his mind. He wants FLI to start development right away.
The mayor explained that if the FLI earns because of its 10-hectare purchase and 40-hectare joint venture agreement with the city, the market value of the remaining 250 lots will soar because others would be enticed to pour money in the SRP.
“If Filinvest doesn’t make money, nobody will invest (in the SRP),” Osmeña said.
That is why, he said, he “will not waste (his) time” resolving the barangay chiefs’ manifesto, signed by 40 of the 80 captains.
He, however, told the crowd during the homecoming reception Tuesday afternoon that the election is near so “intrigues are flying about.”
Choices
Without reiterating his earlier endorsement of Rama and City Hall education consultant Joy Augustus Young, he assured the Cebuanos that “whatever (his) decision will be, it is for the interest of the city.”
In a separate interview, Young, a former city councilor and party-list congressman, said disagreements in choices among party members are what have kept the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) alive through the years.
He said Osmeña encourages them to speak out, and coming up with a manifesto is one such form of expression.
In his speech, Osmeña said the city will give the P1,000 Christmas cash gift and another P1,000 as birthday gift for each senior citizen this year from the P250-million surplus last year and the P348-million FLI down payment given last week for the SRP lots Filinvest will develop.
His speech dwelt much on the SRP, which he said will secure the economic future of the city.
He again explained that while the city incurred a P6-billion debt in constructing the SRP, the return on investment is big. For the P2,000 it spent to develop each square meter, for example, the sale price is P15,000, he said.
Osmeña said while there is a recession in the United States and many other countries, the city is “very well-positioned.”
“There are dark clouds on the horizon…. My objective is not only to earn money but to create a good economy,” he said. “We cannot depend on the National Government to save us. We will be part of the solution, not the problem.” (RHM/Sun.Star Cebu)
Updated March 03, 2009 12:00 AM
CEBU, Philippines – Instead of today, Filinvest Land Inc. will hand over the P338 million first payment of its joint venture agreement for developing 50.6 hectares of the South Road Properties on Thursday.
Cebu City Hall still needs to finalize the technical description of the lots at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
One or two titles will be turned over to FLI, which will convey an initial two hectares as a result of the first payment.
The mother title of the 10-hectare outright purchase will then be taken from the Land Bank of the Philippines to be brought to the Registry of Deeds.
After that the remaining eight hectares will join the 40 hectares to be placed on an escrow account.
The 40 hectares are the first part of the contract that will be developed under a joint venture agreement.
Cebu City acting vice mayor Hilario Davide III yesterday met with city administrator Francisco Fernandez and acting mayor Michael Rama on whether a resolution is needed for the conveyance of the titles alongside the payment.
But Fernandez said a resolution is no longer needed since the contract signed last January was already all-encompassing.
“The moment the contract was signed, it was already a ‘catch all’, the mayor is already authorized to sign the Deed of Sale and others, which are consequences of the contract,” Fernandez said.
FLI is the SRP’s first sale since its reclamation was completed in 2005. In the next six months FLI will start to develop infrastructures.
The memorandum of agreement for the Visayan Electric Company for power distribution at the SRP is already set for discussion by the City Council tomorrow during its regular session.
The document for the creation of a Joint Venture Selection Committee to deal with the proposal of Pilipinas Water Resources Inc. for water supply is already with Rama awaiting his signature. — Ferliza C. Contratista/BRP (THE FREEMAN)
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
CEBU City Hall will not get Filinvest Land Inc.’s (FLI) P338-million down payment today as earlier expected after city officials failed to secure a document from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
The document is a requirement in the joint venture contract to develop a 50.6-hectare area of the South Road Properties (SRP).
City Administrator Francisco Fernandez said last night that the scheduled signing of the deed of sale and the turnover of FLI’s first payment will not push through today and is postponed to March 5.
Fernandez said they do not consider it a delay because the schedule of payment is 30 days after the awarding and signing of the joint venture contract, which falls on March 5 and not March 3.
“We lack one document from the DENR. Something was left out, the technical description of the SRP lots, but that is not a
problem because the 30th day is not March 3 but March 5, so we will get it on Thursday. It’s no big deal,” he said.
Signing
Other than the technical description of the 10.6-hectare lot purchased by FLI and the 40-hectare joint development properties, the City has prepared the other documents and requirements specified in the contract before Acting Mayor Michael Rama and FLI officials sign the deed of sale.
Fernandez said the City is also prepared to turn over the title of a two-hectare portion to FLI.
The titles of the 10.6-hectare Pond F area of the SRP that are mortgaged with the Land Bank of the Philippines were delivered to the Registry of Deeds yesterday, so they could be split into several titles covering two hectares each.
This would allow the City to turn over one title to FLI so it could comply with one of the firm’s requirements before it starts the development project.
“The title for the two-hectare portion will still be in the name of the City Government but it will be released to FLI... As for the titles of the remaining 48 hectares, it will be returned to Land Bank and will be covered by an escrow agreement until all obligations in the joint venture agreement are settled,” Fernandez said. (LCR)
CEBU, Philippines – Cebu City acting Mayor Michael Rama is expected to sign this week the creation of a new Joint Venture Selection Committee which will go over the unsolicited proposal of Pilipinas Water Resources Inc. for the supply of water to the entire South Road Properties.
City administrator Francisco Fernandez said that the document creating the JVSC for PWRI is already on the table of Rama waiting for his signature.
Included in the creation of JVSC is its composition which according to Fernandez will still be composed of members of the former JVSC who dealt with the P25-billion proposal of Filinvest Land, Inc.
Fernandez was the chairman of the JVSC dealing with FLI. The latter will already render the down payment worth P338 million to the city government.
According to the unsolicited offer submitted by Antonio Tompar of PWRI, the city will be paid P10 for every cubic meter of water generated and distributed from the city’s existing desalination plant and P5 per cubic meter from any new desalination plant.
The rate of P1.50 for every cubic meter will be paid for non-potable, P5 per cubic meter for sewage treated water from existing facility and P2.50 from the new sewage facility.
Its key components include commissioning and operation of the city’s desalination plant, operation of the city’s sewage treatment plant, provision of necessary water structures, and connection and metering.
The existing desalination plant, which has not been operated commercially since its construction in 2000, has a capacity of about 650 cubic meters of potable water daily.
Its capacity is intended for the demand of the administration building and the first locator of Pond F.
The necessary water structures they assured to construct include a reservoir, additional waster supply, additional sewage treatment, additional potable water distribution system, additional non-potable water and fire hydrants.
The joint venture will cover 25 years and is renewable every 10 years.
Fernandez said that just like the FLI, after the composition of the JVSC will follow the crafting of the terms of reference followed by the publication of notice to interested parties to qualify and submit their respective competitive challenge.
Meanwhile, the Memorandum of Agreement for the electric supply to SRP by the Visayan Electric Company is already up for discussion in the City Council this Wednesday.
FLI has already scheduled first-phase developments on both the 10.6-hectare outright purchase and the 40 hectares under joint venture. — Ferliza C. Contratista/MEEV (THE FREEMAN)
CEBU, Philippines – Cebu City Mayor on-leave Tomas Osmeña, who is expected to be back more than a week from now for a brief vacation, said he does not have any major project to implement when he officially takes back the reins of the City Hall on March 10.
What the mayor plans to do during his three-week stay in Cebu City is to help in the negotiation with the prospective buyers for the sale of more lots at the South Road Properties (SRP).
The barangay officials in the city also want to hold their first quarterly assembly while Osmeña is here so he could attend and possibly give them instructions on how they could be of help in making the city economically healthy.
The mayor earlier announced that there are a lot of businessmen who want to invest at the 295-hectare facility, but the city is choosy on the kind of business that investors want to put up by making sure they could generate employment for Cebuanos.
Osmeña, who is still in Houston, Texas for the treatment of the cancer in his urinary bladder, said there is an investor who wished to build a huge hospital at the SRP, and said the hospital company is accredited with the US-based insurance companies.
With that, Osmeña expects that many of the retirees from the United States may decide to stay in Cebu City because they would not find difficulty anymore if they need medical care.
According to him, the Cebu-based hospitals are accredited with any of the US-based insurance companies where many US-Filipino Americans are insured.
After his seventh chemotherapy session, Osmeña is required to rest for two weeks before he will undergo a complete physical check-up and then surgical operation will follow to finally remove the part of his urinary bladder that is afflicted with cancer.
The mayor has asked permission from his attending doctors to allow him to return to Cebu City during his two-week rest. — Rene U. Borromeo/WAB (THE FREEMAN)
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