Osmeña: Team Rama not keen on selling SRP lot

By insisting that the sale of a three-hectare (ha) land in the South Road Properties (SRP) be contained in a resolution and not an ordinance, the Team Rama-dominated Cebu City Council is trying to avoid public scrutiny over the previous administration’s “anomalous” transaction.

This was the pronouncement of Mayor Tomas Osmeña after the committee on laws withdrew on Tuesday its report on the matter, pending further discussion.

“The way I see it, they don’t really like to sell the property because it will make the whole Team Rama look bad. If this time it sells for P110,000 (per square meter), why did they sell the other (lots) for P30,000? To me it’s clear that they don’t want to

This is the biggest real estate transaction since Magellan landed in Cebu in 1521. TOMAS R. OSMEñA Cebu City Mayor

show the public that the sale was underpriced,” he said.

Last month, Councilor Nendell Hanz Abella filed a proposed legislation to supplement City Ordinance (CO) 2332, which protects the SRP and its stakeholders from unlawful and unauthorized transactions and dealings.

Abella’s draft ordinance provides that the sale will cover two lots at Pond F. These are Lot 1-F-8-A with an area of 25,769 square meters (sq. m.) and Lot 1-H-1 with an area of 3,349 sq. m. Abella that said the City Government can generate around P3.3 billion by selling the lots at P110,000 per sq. m.

The council committee on laws would have recommended that the sale be authorized through a resolution “in order to expedite the process.”

It would have also suggested that the sale be done through public bidding and not through unsolicited proposals.

Osmeña, however, said that by delaying the discussion of the sale, the majority bloc may be buying time to avoid the mandatory publication and public hearing should the matter be contained in an ordinance as proposed by Abella.

The mayor said that the previous administration “avoided” this by disposing of 45 hectares of land in the SRP for P16.8 billion in June 2015 through a resolution.

“Why do you avoid the publication and the public hearing when you’re selling P16 billion-worth of property as if you’re selling a lawn mower there? This is the biggest real estate transaction since Magellan landed in Cebu in 1521,” Osmeña said.