BOPK Allies Now Support Rama’s Move to Sell SRP Lots

Former mayor Tomas R. Osmeña said he will not stop the city councilors who are allies of the Bando Osmeña Pundok-Kauswagan (BOPK) if they will decide to support the resolution that will allow Mayor Michael Rama to sell lots at the South Road Properties (SRP).

Osmeña said he understand that Rama needs enough funds to support his projects that he want to implement, saying “Nahurot na ang kuwarta sa siyudad, the city is bancrupt so the mayor has no choice but to conduct like a damage sale of lots.”

“If they want to sell away the future of the city its up to them. They are the administration. If they want to throw away all the money of the city thats fine, but don’t blame me,” the former mayor said in a phone interview.

At least five BOPK-allied councilors, Gerardo Carillo, Nestor Archival, Noel Eleuterio Wenceslao, Eugenio Gabuya and Roberto Cabarrubias, supported the move of Team Rama-allied councilors Nendell Hanz Abella, Dave Tumulak, Mary Ann Delos Santos, James Cuenco and Philip Zafra to authorize Rama to sell the SRP lots.

The move of the five BOPK-allied councilors raised the eyebrows of the public because they were among the members of the City Councilors who passed City Ordinance 2332 that prohibits Rama from selling the SRP lots without the City Council’s nod.

Councilor Wenceslao who authored City Ordinance 2332 explained that he sees the need to allow the mayor to sell some parcels of lots at the SRP so that it can be used to settle the remaining loan at the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) still amounting to over P3 Billion.

“Natan-aw man gud namo nga bentaha na lang nga mobaligya ta og yuta sa SRP nga ibayad sa atong utang kay sa mangutang na ‘sab ta aron lang ibayad sa utang sa JBIC,” Wenceslao explained.

Osmeña questioned Rama’s administration why the city is experiencing a problem of lack of funds when in fact it had received over P5 Billion from the staggered payment of SRP lots sold to SM Prime Holdings Corporation and Filinvest Land Inc., aside from the over P600 million of shares out of the FLI’s Joint Venture Agreement.

“Ngano man nga wala nay kuwarta ang City Hall? Kay ila man nga gilabay ang kuwarta sa mga useless nga proyekto. Daghan kaayong job order employees nga walay nahimo, daghang mga travels, travel here and travel everywhere, hiring of consultants,” the former mayor said.

Osmeña recalled that when he left City Hall after his term ended in mid-2010, he left P2.6 Billion even if he had paid in advance the city’s obligation to JBIC to make sure that Rama won’t face problem of paying the loan during the first months of his term.

When asked what he want to say if Rama will finally sells lots at the SRP, Osmeña said “Good for him, good for the city, ang problema lang nawala ang atong kaugmaon kay mao kana ang akong damgo unta nga ang atong mga public school graduates sa mga high schools for the next 20 years libre na ang ilang college.”

He strongly believed that the would-be buyers of the SRP lots are those investors who just want to stay the lot without developing it waiting for the price to escalate and sell them to another buyers for higher prices.