Bimbo: 93-1 deal not illegal
The Cebu City government was allowed to sell portions of the South Road Properties; all the more that it can donate parts of it.
This was the counterargument of former city administrator and currently Executive Assistant to the Mayor Francisco “Bimbo” Fernandez against the attack of former Cebu governor Pablo “Pabling” Garcia, who argued that the city cannot give a portion of the SRP as part of the 93-1 land swap deal with the Capitol.
“Ang punto nato diha, it is a government to government transaction. The province can donate land and the city can donate also,” he said.
He cited instances where the province donated a lot to the Office of the Ombudsman Visayas when Garcia was governor 10 years ago and the Commission on Audit did not question it. He said the city likewise has the same authority to include 2.5 hectares of the SRP in the 93-1 agreement.
“Wala man mo-question. Sa ato pa, duna tay right ana. I know nga ang lawyers motubag ana. Anyway, ang atoang puntos ana pila na ka tuig nga nakabaligya ta. In other words, we can dispose kay gi-allow
man sa COA. Kon wala pa, then COA will reject it (sale),” Fernandez said.
He said that both the Capitol and the City Hall gave up properties for the benefit of the residents.
Based on the December 7 agreement Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Governor Hilario Davide III had entered into, 32.4 hectares of lots covered under Provincial Ordinance No. 93-1 shall be transferred to the city through an exchange of properties.
In exchange, Cebu City will part with 2.5 hectares of the SRP; the 13, 711square-meter lot of its sewerage treatment plant; the 2, 475-square-meter slaughterhouse at the North Reclamation Area; a nine-hectare property in Pulpogan, Consolacion town; and the 3.3-hectare Block 27, Block 27-A, and Block 27-B lots, including the road between them, at the NRA.
Fernandez said he was grateful that the Provincial Board chose to ignore Garcia’s January 12 request for its members to review the land swap deal.
Garcia had labeled the deal as “illegal” and a “robbery in broad daylight,” saying it only put the province in a “grossly disadvantageous” situation.
“We’re very happy that the Provincial Board, as it was pointed out in the newspaper, ignored katong claim ni Governor Pabling Garcia,” Fernandez said.