‘City Council follow procedures’

“I BELIEVE that the Bacolod City Council followed the procedures on the approval of the loan agreement between the City Government and Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).”

This was stressed by Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday after two members of the City Council opposed the move.

Leonardia said some people are twisting facts and misleading the people about the flagship projects of the city government.

On Monday, the City Council ratified the term loan agreement and continuing deed of assignment with a hold-out agreement between the City Government and DBP involving the P1.7 billion loan to fund the city’s flagship projects.

The approval of the agreement was supported by the 11 councilors and it was only Councilors Wilson Gamboa Jr. and Claudio Puentevella who opposed the move while Councilor Ricardo Tan abstained.

The said flagship projects are Progreso Village Relocation Site with the budget of P350 million; Bacolod City College Site Development and Facilities, P350 million; Bacolod Masskara Coliseum, P800 million; and the construction of roads and bridges, P200 million.

Leonardia said the City Council will not make a move that is illegal.

“If we decided that we will do it, then we will do it immediately. Why we should wait for another year? We are doing this because we want to deliver the services at the soonest possible time,” he said.

The mayor said it’s possible that the city’s flagship projects will be implemented by the first quarter of 2019.

Gamboa earlier said it was only on November 21 during their regular session that the City Council received a “pro-forma contract” with the DBP with no available information such as interest, terms of payment,

the manner of payment, penalties among others.

“This pro-forma contract was so damming that it was already pre-signed by the representative of DBP which I find very abnormal/extraordinary because this is not in the usual course of transacting business with a bank which is a pre-signed pro-format contract,” he said.

He added: “For me, I find the purpose of the loan unwise and unsound because of the people of Bacolod clamor for a Bacolod City Public Hospital or the rehabilitation of three major markets and the construction and rehabilitation of other sub-satellite markets.”*