Osmeña to bring back to court lot sale issue

CEBU, Philippines —  Former Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmeña will reportedly bring back to court the issue of the validity of the sale of 45.5 hectares of lot at the South Road Properties.

This was disclosed by Osmeña’s ally, Councilor Nestor Archival, Sr.

He said the former mayor will file the case against the city government next week. 

“During the time nga siya (Osmeña) pa ang mayor, the city government filed a case to resolve the legality of the sale but because ila (new administration) mang gi-withdraw, so ilang gi-withdraw (During the time he was mayor, the city government filed a case to resolve the legality of the sale but the new administration withdrew the case),” Archival told reporters.

The sale of the lots was made before Osmeña assumed the mayorship in 2016 but the new administration headed by Mayor Edgardo Labella who won in May 2019 decided to withdraw the case Osmeña filed so the city can use the money collected from the buyers of the lots.

The buyers are SM Primeholdings, Inc., Ayala Land, Inc., Cebu Holdings, Inc., Filinvest Land, Inc., Filinvest Alabang, Inc., Cyberzone Properties, Inc., Anesy Holdings Corporation, IGold Holdings Incorporation, and Betterfield Phils., Corporation.

Archival said the city government should not use the SRP lot sale proceeds because the legality of the sale is still in question.

“What will happen if they’re going to use the money? They will be persecuted,” he said.

He said there are several “defects” in the sale including the absence of authority given for the City of Cebu to enter into the Negotiated Sales on Installment; the City Council passed a resolution before holding in abeyance the bidding process of the SRP lots; the City Council passed resolution deferring further action on the sale of the lots; the Committee on Awards failed to comply with the standard government procedures for the posting of the public bidding in a public place.

Another defect, he said, was that the consortium was declared winner despite not having submitted any document to show that it was pre-qualified to bid.

The Negotiated Sales on Installments required the approval of the Commission on Audit but no approval was given by COA for the lot sale. The contracts, too, required approval from the Philippine Competition Commission to be valid.

As opposition to the present city administration, Archival said they will look for ways to protect the interest of the city.

He said they want the current administration to rebid the 45.5-hectare lot since the city will not only get P17 billion, but P50 billion, since the valuation of the SRP lots has increased.

He said further that he will continue to discourage the current administration from using the money from the SRP lot sale. — JMO (FREEMAN)