Mandaue, Capitol formalize CICC deal
The Cebu provincial government has formalized its decision to sell the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) to the Mandaue City government for P300 million – or about half the money the province shelled out to build the structure.
The contract to sell was signed by Governor Hilario Davide III, Vice Governor Agnes Magpale, Mandaue City Mayor Gabriel Luis Quisumbing, and Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna at the governor’s office yesterday morning.
The deal was carried out some 11 years after the edifice was built to serve as venue of the 2007 Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit and 22 days after the Provincial Board gave the governor authority to pursue the deal.
The contract also effectively terminates the joint venture agreement earlier entered into by the parties. The lot on which the structure stands is owned by the city.
Under the new contract, property ownership can only be transferred to Mandaue upon completion of payment by 2018.
The city will make the payment in two tranches: P200 million this year and the remaining P100 million by June next year. Initial payment is already in the works, according to Quisumbing.
Davide, in previous interviews, said a chunk of the sale’s proceeds will be used to upgrade the Carcar City Provincial Hospital.
Quisumbing, for his part, revealed that ever since the CICC was pitted for sale, many investors have come to make proposals.
“I think our key guidelines will be forward for reconstruction or the development of the property, something that will not only provide convention space for the entire Metro Cebu but also bring employment and opportunities, commercial development, and commercial activities in the area,” he said.
Quisumbing said Mandaue City envisions the area as a hub for commerce.
As of December 2008, then-governor Gwendolyn Garcia said the total cost to construct CICC was P573,309,498.99. However, WT Construction Inc. (WTI), contractor of the project, said it incurred additional P261.2 million for doing extra works on the property, the payment of which is still a subject of court litigation.
The extra amount would raise total construction cost to about P835 million.
Davide yesterday welcomed Mandaue City’s interest in buying what he described was an “inoperable property.”
The 38,000-square meter facility was rendered uninhabitable by twin calamities that hit Cebu in 2013, particularly the magnitude 7.2 Bohol earthquake on October 15 and super typhoon Yolanda on November 8.
But Davide refused to allocate “a single centavo” to repair the structure, saying he did not want to meddle in a property that is a subject of a graft case against Garcia.
In July 2016, the Ombudsman affirmed its earlier finding of probable cause to indict Garcia, former Capitol officials, and a representative of WTI for graft over the alleged anomalous procurement of the property.
The Ombudsman said the respondents resorted to an illegal procurement after awarding P16.8 million architectural and engineering design contract, P307 million combined structural steel contracts, P59 million adjacent/contiguous works, P7.5 million cladding contract, P1.8 million structural cabling system, P3.6 million fire protection/sprinkler system, P3.4 million glass works, and P26.5 million air-conditioning to WTI.
In addition, Garcia and the other respondents also allegedly permitted WTI to do additional works worth P257.4 million without an appropriation, contract, and public bidding.
Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Paul Elmer Clemente, in a letter to the governor in 2015, however, said that pending cases involving the CICC will not affect the rights of the province to utilize the facility.