PB DEBATES P1.3B EDIFICE PROJECT

Opposition PB members say they should first seek opinion from experts, historical institutions before pushing project

A resolution that would have given Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III the authority to enter into a contract with WT Construction for the construction of the P1.3-billion Capitol Resource Center was deferred on Monday, Dec. 17.

This, after Provincial Board members allied with Cebu congresswoman and gubernatorial candidate Gwendolyn Garcia and those allied with Davide locked horns on whether to allow the governor to be given authority or not.

The regular session, which was supposed to be the PB’s last for this year, was filled with apprehension as PB members opposing the proposed project aired their concerns.

As PB members Jerome Librando and Celestino “Tining” Martinez III raised the proposed resolution for approval, PB member Edsel Galeos immediately raised a motion to defer its approval.

A vote between the PB members was made to determine who would support the resolution’s deferral and those who wouldn’t.

Eight PB members, namely, Galeos, Yolanda Daan, Alex Binghay, Victoria Corominas Toribio, Sun Shimura, Glenn Bercede, Thadeo Jovito Ouano and Christopher Baricuatro voted in favor of the deferral.

Majority of the PB members who supported the deferral are allied with Garcia’s One Cebu-PDP Laban.

Eight PB members, namely, Martinez, Librando, Jose Mari Salvador, Horacio Franco, Miguel Antonio Magpale, Jude Thaddeus Sybico, Earl Tidy Oyas and Jerico Rubio voted against the measure. Majority of them are allied with the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).

Only PB Member Raul Bacaltos, who is with One Cebu-PDP Laban, abstained from voting.

Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, who serves as presiding chairman, broke the tie and voted against the deferral.

Magpale is NPC’s standard bearer in Cebu and is running for governor against Garcia.

Another vote was made for the approval of the proposed resolution wherein eight PB members, namely, Magpale, Rubio, Librando, Salvador, Martinez, Oyas, Sybico and Franco voted to approve, while Galeos, Bacaltos, Toribio, Binghay and Shimura voted against it.

Only Baricuatro, Bercede and Ouano abstained from voting.

But the vote was not made official as the PB is trying to secure the opinion of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Supreme Court jurisprudence to determine if a simple or qualified majority is needed to vote on the measure.

By 5 p.m., members of the PB had agreed to defer the measure.

But in a privilege speech, Galeos said he wanted the proposal deferred for further study as there are several concerns that the Province needs to address before the PB would give its go signal.

Aside from issues raised by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), Galeos said economic and procedural issues must first be addressed.

Galeos said in terms of procedural aspect, he was baffled why Davide wants to secure authority from the PB to enter into a contract with WT Construction when he has not yet secured an authority to obtain a loan from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) to fund the project.

There is a resolution that would grant Davide the authority to enter into a loan with DBP, but it is still being tackled within the committee level.

“To reiterate, the borrowing ordinance for the loan supporting this project, has only been submitted for first reading before this Sanggunian on Dec. 10, 2018, while the public bidding was conducted on Nov. 9, 2018. And yet, even before the borrowing ordinance has been approved and before all the necessary procurement under RA 9184, we are now being asked for the authority to enter into contract with the winning bidder for this proposed P1 billion-peso project. This, I am truly confused,” Galeos said.

As to the economic aspect, Galeos said borrowing more than P1 billion for the project is “unnecessary, capricious and irresponsible” especially since basic services such as health, public roads, bridges, water systems and public transportation should be the priority.

Toribio, in a separate interview, denied there was politics involved in their decision to not support the measure.

“We are not here to oppose the budget. We are dealing with a billion pesos and that’s the people’s money. We are obligated to answer all questions and we should clear all doubts,” Toribio told reporters.