Tom tells public 5 thousand jobs lost in failed P18B SRP project

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña used his social media account to inform the public that opposition-allied City Councilors blocked the approval of the P18 billion development at the South Road Properties that will generate 5,000 jobs.

“Remember this project? The one that was supposed to infuse P18B into Cebu’s economy and bring 5,000 new jobs to the Cebuanos? This Friday morning, the Team Rama city council BLOCKED it. Their reasons range from ‘there are better deals to be made’ to ‘John Gokongwei is not qualified’,” reads a portion of his Facebook post.

His post got over 8,200 reactions and shared over 900 times as of yesterday.

Last Friday, the City Council held a special session to discuss City Councilor Eugenio Gabuya’s proposed resolution supposedly authorizing the mayor to sign the Joint Venture Agreement with Universal Hotels and Resorts, Inc. which will develop an integrated resort on the city’s nine-hectare Kawit Island at SRP.

The decision of the council was done through a votation and Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella had to break the 8-8 tie.

In breaking the tie in favor of the disapproval of the proposed project, Labella said the project is good but he agrees with Councilor Joel Garganera who said that straight lease is better instead of the 90-10 profit sharing.

In his Facebook post, Labella said the opposition recognized that the intention of the JVA is good.

“However, we find that the agreement is grossly disadvantageous to the City and prejudicial to the interests of the people of Cebu City. If the Council would give its assent to this grossly iniquitous contract, we will violate the provisions of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act by causing undue injury to the City of Cebu and giving unwarranted benefit, advantage or preference to the proponent,” he said.

Labella said may the mayor be reminded that they are all elected officials in the City Council which will maintain check and balance in running the affairs of the City.

“He does not have the monopoly of knowledge in identifying what is good for the City,” the vice mayor added.

In his objection, Garganera said that the contract is not advantageous to the city since the city will get 10 percent of the gross sales and rentals of the UHRI which means that the city will depend on their sale.

He suggested having a fix amount of money that UHRI will pay since straight lease is “permanent and stable.”

But, Osmeña said there were no other investors who challenged the proposal of UHRI.

The mayor further criticized his nephew, Councilor Renato “Junjun” Osmeña, Jr., who chaired the City Council’s ad hoc committee which endorsed several suggestions and recommendations for the project.

“Junjun Osmeña is my nephew, but more importantly, he is the brother-in-law of Michael Dino. Junjun ran and lost under Team Rama last election, but was appointed into the council a few months ago after another councilor resigned. He led the council’s ad hoc committee on Gokongwei’s 18B peso project, and after we agreed to all his recommendations, still voted against the project. He in essence voted against his own recommendations. Now, 5,000 jobs are gone,” the mayor said.

The mayor added that Councilor Osmeña is a “snake and a traitor to the Cebuanos.”

Sought for comment, Councilor Osmeña said the comments of the mayor are “irrelevant.”

“Their comments are irrelevant I'm just doing my job as a councilor and always putting my best foot forward for Cebu and the Cebuanos,” he said in a text message to The FREEMAN.

The integrated resort includes the construction of a commercial or shopping center, integrated resort, casino facilities, hotels and parking facilities on the city’s properties, among others.

Former mayor Michael Rama commended his party mates for standing on their position about the proposed project.

“I congratulate and