Home 
CLAD in a black polo shirt with the words ?Suya Ra ang Probinsya (SRP)? on his back, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña updated barangay officials on two development deals in the works while drumbeating his administration's success with the project yesterday.
Osmeña told leaders of the city's 80 barangays in an hour-long presentation at the Grand Convention Center that contrary to his detractors's predictions, the South Road Properties (SRP) is poised to earn millions, even billions of pesos in revenue in the next few months.
?Ako ipakita ninyo karon that we won. Maka kwarta na gyud ang syudad (I am here to show you that we won. The city will earn money),? a grinning Osmeña told the barangay officials.
He said Cebu City made its first million pesos with the disposal of the 10-hectare pond F to Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI).
More will come, Osmeña said, with the proposed joint venture agreement with Filinvest Land Inc. for another four hectares of land at the SRP.
Osmeña said their next revenue would come from SM Prime Holdings which voiced interest in investing P20 billion in the SRP.
?We were threatened with charges before the Ombudsman and a congressional inquiry to scare off investors,? he recalled.
He said lawyer Estelito Mendoza, lead counsel for Filinvest, interviewed him and some city officials four times to evaluate any flaws in the property sale and the joint venture agreement.
Rep. Pablo John Garcia of Cebu's 3rd district said the congressional inquiry on the city-Filinvest deal may proceed when Congress resumes session on Nov. 9.
Meanwhile Osmeña said negotiations are underway with SM Prime Holdings for the disposal of another 30 hectares.
?Ato dawaton o dili (Should we accept this or not)?? he asked barangay officials who replied ?dawaton (accept)? in unison.
The mayor asked for a show of hands. Everyone raised theirs in confirmation.
Osmeña said he envisoned the SRP upon his election in 1998 as a way to beat Manila and encourage investments and employment in Cebu City.
He said the SRP would attract rich families in Manila to relocate and maybe start a business.
The mayor said SM promised to invest P20 billion into the SRP to build a convention center, megamall and two hotels with 200 rooms each in two years.
Osmeña said the SM convention center would be the biggest in the country with a floor area of two hectares.
He took a swipe anew at political rival Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia by saying that the SM convention center would make the Capitol's Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) project look like ?an urban poor center.?
