Capitol set to take back 5 roads

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu provincial government has moved to “reclaim” five roads surrounding the Cebu IT Park that had been given to a private firm under the previous administration.

In a session last September 23, the Provincial Board passed a resolution authorizing Governor Gwendolyn Garcia to sign the Memorandum of Agreement with Cebu Property Ventures and Development Corporation (CPVDC), now Cebu Holdings Inc., to revert two roads that lead to the IT Park from Salinas Drive and three roads from Governor M. Cuenco Avenue back to the authority of the province of Cebu.

It can be recalled that the province, through then former governor Hilario Davide III, signed a memorandum of agreement with CPVDC, a subsidiary of Ayala Land, to have authority over the five roads in exchange for the right of way leading to Filinvest Cyberzone.

“Nakit-an gyud, labihan ka disadvantaged ang probinsya. Onerous. Grossly disadvantageous to the Province of Cebu,” Garcia told reporters.

In another contract, the province signed a Build-Transfer-Operate agreement with Filinvest for the construction of four BPO buildings on the 1.2-hectare provincial land in Cebu IT Park.

Currently, only two of the four BPO buildings have been completed.

Garcia is set to meet Filinvest representatives today to discuss the lease and percentage shares in the context of the increase in the value of the lot.

The construction of the BPO buildings was delayed for two years allegedly because of Ayala’s blocking of the roads leading to the site. This is why the previous administration decided to offer the five roads in exchange for Filinvest’s access to the government property.

Garcia said that she discovered the “disadvantageous” contract with Ayala entered into by the previous administration when she was asking for updates on the status of the Filinvest buildings.

“I wanted an update whether or not we were already earning from that property. That was when everything was uncovered,” she said.

She added that it was a significant venture since not only did the province earn additional assets in the form of four new buildings from Filinvest, it also has a 2 percent share in the gross revenue of Filinvest’s operation of the buildings.

In addition, Filinvest will also lease the government lot where the buildings are erected on in favor of the government.

“I told Ayala, you will have to rectify this… kay hilabihang luoya sa probinsya ani. Ug di ni ninyo buhaton, I will file a complaint against those responsible. I will establish the connections between those responsible in the part of the province and Ayala,” Garcia said. — JMD (FREEMAN)