To build the city hospital, don't get loan, sell SRP!

Fiscal management is a tricky business especially for local government units. To be sure, there are knowledgeable career fund managers among civil servants within the employee structures of LGUs, who can ably guide the use of public funds. But, these able monetary officers cannot direct the application of the peoples' money consistently for an appreciably long period of time because there are changes in the elected leadership now and then.

In addition to the many factors in managing public money known to fiscal officers, it takes careful planning, astute leadership and visionary foresight on the part of elected leaders to achieve what the bigger part of the population want with their taxes. That is what makes fiscal management difficult to comprehend.

Take the case of the South Road Properties of the City of Cebu. More than a decade ago, the city borrowed huge funds, in billions of pesos, to reclaim the southern foreshores of the city. We, as city residents, were told that there was a dire necessity to do the reclamation project because we had no more space to develop. Commercial investors and perhaps, industry players could not find available areas to sink their money in. So, we agreed and I say that as if our concurrence was a condition sine qua non to the pursuit of the project. Then, to sweeten the proverbial pie, we were also informed that the loan was for our benefit.

So, for many years, huge slices of the city's budget, which were otherwise allocable for the delivery of basic services, were diverted to paying the SRP loan. For one, garbage trucks, in the needed number, could not be purchased resulting in uncollected garbage. For another, the opening of new roads to the mountains had to wait while the repair of those with deep ruts had to be prioritized. And there are many more undelivered services owing to lack of funds.

Ironically, there are more than 200 hectares of unused (also called idle) reclaimed land. These are valuable assets that unfortunately are non-performing. Why can the city not use it to generate. The mayor's hands are tied in a situation that, to me, is both obnoxious and unlawful. He cannot negotiate with any prospect for the sale of any portion of the SRP unless the city council authorizes him because that is the mandate of a city ordinance. Why the mayor approved it, in the first place is something beyond my understanding!

Be that as it may, there is a proposal of the honorable Cebu City Councilor Noel Wenceslao to secure a loan for the construction of the Cebu City Medical Center. In his concept, the city has to borrow money, perhaps another billion pesos, from a financial institution in order that the city can build a very much needed hospital.

There is no question that we need the hospital soon. The 7.2 intensity 2013 earthquake impaired the structural integrity of the old facility such that it had to be torn down. Thousands of city residents can no longer be serviced by the makeshift of a hospital that the city has managed to keep to the present.

But, a question nags me. It is a question that my humble mind cannot find an answer. Before I go crazy trying to figure it out let me ask this. Why does Councilor Wenceslao want to burden the city residents with another loan if only to build a new hospital? I cannot understand why we cannot sell a part of the SRP to generate the kind of money necessary to construct the new hospital.

May I suggest that Hon. Wenceslao sponsor a resolution authorizing the mayor to sell say, 20 hectares of the SRP. According to my friends in the real estate industry, the least that the SRP can sell is twenty thousand pesos per square meter. 20 hectares can generate 4 billion pesos. That sum of money should be enough to build the ten storey city hospital and buy modern medical equipment.

That suggestion draws a simple equation. Do not borrow money, instead sell a part of SRP. If the city obtains loan to construct the hospital, it will subject the residents, including my grandchildren when they reach age of majority to paying the obligation. Selling a portion of the SRP will, on the other hand, allow us the residents to benefit from the previous loan we obtained to reclaim the land.

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