Zambo city council rejects privatization of golf course

ZAMBOANGA CITY – The Tourism Infrastructure Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) has failed to get the approval of the city council here on its proposal to privatize the 105 year old 82-hectare Zamboanga City Golf Course and Country Club.

Zamboanga City Vice-Mayor Cesar Iturralde yesterday said members of the city council led by Councilor and Majority Floor Leader Charlie Mariano expressed stiff opposition to the privatization plan of TIEZA.

Iturralde said the Zamboanga City Golf Course and Country Club, one of the country’s oldest golf course, is a key city landmark and tourist destination

Mariano added that the facility, overlooking the Basilan Strait and once used by American forces as a landing strip, has been a regular weekend and vacation destination of ordinary Zamboanga City folk.

Zamboanga City 1st District Rep Celso Lobregat meantime stressed that the golf course, instead of being privatized, must improved and upgraded.

Lobregat also urged TIEZA to remove the Zamboanga Golf Course and Country Club from its list of properties set for privatization.

Jojo Rosario, Chadoro Consortium consultant, appeared before the city council last Tuesday and revealed the proposed privatization of the golf course and its future conversion into a Tourism Economic Zone (TEZ) with all its amenities and improvements.

Rosario said he met with Zamboanga City Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco and briefed her about the plan.

He also bared that the city mayor set conditions for the privatization such as the preservation of the Muslim cemetery within the golf course facility, disposition of the settlers squatting inside the said property as well as the environmental concerns.