Closure order will turn off investors, Jonas warns

An “economic doom” might befall Mandaue City should its officials pursue the closure of three business establishments in the city’s entertainment and commercial center.

The pronouncement was made by Rep. Jonas Cortes (Cebu, 6th) after a team from the Mandaue City legal office served the closure orders on Big Hotel, Big Hotel Suites and Linear Coffee Shop on Wednesday morning, Feb. 27, for their failure to secure business permits and for building on land under a deed of assignment that is said to be irregular.

“I hope and pray that the current administration will look into this because it sends a wrong message to the businessmen. We have been trying our best to make Mandaue a busi- ness-friendly city. But by closing the establishments and filing cases, mahadlok na mobubo sa puhunan dinhi sa dakbayan sa Mandaue (businessmen will be afraid to invest in Mandaue),” Cortes said in an interview Friday, March 1.

The congressman also fears the development would discourage people from working in the city.

“It’s not only the businesses that are threatened but also the employees. Thousands more are dependent on the breadwinners who work in these establishments,” Cortes continued.

The two hotels sit on 1.4 hectares of prime government land in Barangay Tipolo that has been leased out for P12 per square meter or P170,000 a month to Katumanan Hardware Inc. (KHI), a private supplier of wood and hardware materials in Cebu, since 2007.

The lease was originally valid for 15 years but in 2012, KHI and the Mandaue City Government, then under Cortes’ mayorship, entered into an agreement to extend the lease for 25 years.

Cortes was mayor of Mandaue City from 2007 to 2016.

After one term as congressman, he is challenging the reelection bid of Mayor Luigi Quisumbing in the May 13 election.

During the interview Friday morning, Cortes said his administration renegotiated the contract with the private firm after identifying the area as an entertainment and commercial hub.

“The contract includes a provision requiring the investor to infuse another P60 million for structures that would complement our master plan to make the area an entertainment and commercial hub. That is why we extended the lease period,” Cortes said.

In 2013, KHI signed a contract with Cenore Corp. for the sublease of the property for commercial development.

KHI issued a deed of assignment to Cenore, which Cortes signed.

Cenore later built and operated the two hotels on the lot.

But according to lawyer Elaine Bathan, the chief of staff of Quisumbing, the deed that KHI assigned to Cenore did not have the authority of the City Council.

Cortes, though, was firm in saying that the transaction was not anomalous.

A day after the majority bloc ratified the deed of assignment, Quisumbing filed before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas the complaints for violation of Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and grave misconduct against the seven city councilors.

The respondents—Councilors Nenita Ceniza-Layese, Carmelino “Jun” Del Mar, Ernie Manatad, Malcolm Sanchez, Cynthia Remedio, Marie Immaline Zafra and Sangguniang Kabataan President Dalie Mae Cabatingan—comprise the majority in the council and are allies of Cortes.

The City’s administration officials have said the deed of assignment is questionable.

The Commission on Audit also found the transaction to be irregular since the Sangguniang Panlungsod did not have a record of the deed before Wednesday’s council session.

Bathan said the council was not informed about any deed of assignment that allowed Cenore to build on a City Government-owned lot. /