Court asked to stop South Road Properties deal

A village chief has asked a local court in Cebu to stop transactions involving the multibillion-peso South Road Properties (SRP) in Cebu City. Sun-Star Cebu (www.sunstar.com.ph) reported that Tinago village chief Joel Garganera asked the Cebu regional trial court to stop city Mayor Tomas Osmeña and the council from leasing the SRP. It was the second time legal problems over the SRP, which cost about P6.3 billion in loans, cropped up. The Talisay City Government also staked a claim over some 54 hectares of the property, saying these fall within its territorial jurisdiction. Garganera’s petition also covered the Cebu Investment Promotions Center (CIPC) and the Register of Deeds. He asked the court to issue a temporary restraining order and a writ of preliminary injunction against "marketing, selling, disposing of or leasing" the SRP. Also, Garganera asked the court to prohibit the City Council from granting any authority to the mayor and to stop the body from ratifying any sale or lease of the SRP. If not stopped, Garganera said, the City Government will "open the floodgates of lawsuits arising" from their alleged illegal transactions. Osmeña’s act of leasing a portion of the 240-hectare SRP to Bigfoot Entertainment Philippines Inc. without a congressional authority and public bidding is illegal, he said. "Osmeña’s avowed projection of selling the SRP to private corporations is nothing but a grand deception. His marketing and promotional strategies are blunders of horrific proportions. Consequently, they must be stopped," said Garganera in his civil suit filed at the RTC. But the mayor said Garganera is just trying to destroy the reputation of the SRP for his own political interest, though he is willing to face whatever case will be filed against the City. "As far as I’m concerned, the SRP has been approved by Congress. This is a bill on the loan agreement between the Philippine Government and the Japanese Government, and that was approved. If we go back to Congress for every little thing, it’s not physically possible," Osmeña said. Garganera said the SRP is classified as lands of the public domain, which means that it is owned by the state. He said this classification was retained in Proclamation 843 of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, in Special Patent 3693 and the Original Certificate of Title 3581. He wants Proclamation 843, which transferred the ownership of the SRP to the City Government, nullified because there was no congressional authority allowing the President to transfer ownership of the land. But Osmeña said the loan for the 240-hectare SRP was approved by Congress and, for him, its sale or lease for income generation purposes is also good as approved. Osmeña also said he already anticipated criticisms against his administration and the SRP to surface during the election period. He said this was why he decided to put on hold the bidding for the sale of SRP lots to at least five possible investors. He warned that local courts cannot stop the City from proceeding with the sale, lease or disposal of the SRP lots since only the Supreme Court can issue a temporary restraining order on infrastructure projects. On the other hand, Garganera noted there was no public bidding when the city leased two hectares or 20,000 square meters of the SRP to Bigfoot for a period of 25 years. But Osmeña said that the SRP is operating under Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) rules and regulations, which exempt special economic zones from holding a bidding when leasing lots. Garganera also said the City needs to pay about P620 million for both foreign and domestic loans this year. "Undeniably, it is the people who will bear the brunt of paying these loans and will continue to suffer for the lack of basic services owing to the City’s financial distress," he added. He pointed out that payment for this loan, if used for basic services, could build 700 classrooms a month and provide 1,700 sacks of rice in a year for poor families. Osmeña confirmed Garganera’s computation that the City is shelling out P1.7 million a day for the loan principal and interest. The investment, he said, is worth it since the project cost will amount to only P2,000 per square meter. - GMANews.TV