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CEBU CITY, Philippines ? Acting Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama is proposing to terminate Cebu City's guarantee payment to the national government for the South Road Properties (SRP).
The guarantee payment comprises 10 percent of the city's standing loan to the Japanese government through Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Rama said he will arrange a meeting with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to present his proposal.
The acting mayor said the guarantee payment should be condoned since it is the national government which is receiving it.
He said the SRP is intended for Cebu City residents.
?Why don't we give it to the local pocket and we can utilize it and continue our services,? Rama said.
The city last week paid P38.1 million in guarantee fee to the Department of Finance (DOF) through the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP).
The total guarantee fee paid by the city has reached P396.6 million since it started payments since 1995.
Meanwhile, Rama said Mayor-on-leave Tomas Osmeña has every right to criticize the statements of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) consultants who earlier questioned the absence of a master plan for the SRP.
Rama said Osmeña was the original proponent of the SRP. Osmeña?s position to defer any master plan for the reclamation site should be taken into consideration, he added.
?We have to understand that we could not ignore the desire of the elected mayor. The mayor has the right for his reaction,? he said.
Osmeña was not happy with comments made by the SRP foreign consultants.
The consultants who are coordinating with Cebu City officials as part of the ADB's Cities and Development Initiative in Asia (CDIA) said they need the master plan to provide the framework for identification of infrastructure support in the 300-hectare reclamation site.
Osmeña said he was ready to drop the consultants since he was not in favor of coming up with a master plan that would lock up future developments of the city.
Cebu City received a $499,000 technical assistance from ADB for the study on infrastructure projects in SRP.
The pre-feasibility study, which continues next year, will facilitate funding assistance from ADB, the JICA and other financial institutions.
But Osmeña yesterday said the city was not looking for a loan for any projects that would be an add-on to the credit the city still has with JICA.
?They offered to fund a study but it looks like they should be sent to school and they want to use the SRP for their own experience,? the mayor told Cebu Daily News in a text message on Monday.
He said Cebu City is better off without the ADB consultants.
He said he doesn't favor the idea by the consultants to put off negotiations with investors of SRP until the study is finished in August next year.
The Cebu City government already published their second invitation to bid for the 50.8 hectare in the SRP.
If there is no bidder after 30 days, Cebu City Hall will award the property to Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI) which made an earlier offer to the city.
Osmeña, who is undergoing treatment for a urinary bladder cancer in Houston, Texas, said he plans to go to Bogota to observe the Bus Rapid Transit system there upon the invitation of former mayor Enrique Peñalosa. /Reporter Marian Z. Codilla
