PJ to Bimbo: Don't blame Capitol for city's debt woes

Cebu third district Rep. Pablo John Garcia yesterday lashed at Cebu City administrator Francisco “Bimbo” Fernandez over the statement that the Provincial Government’s plan to challenge the proposal of Filinvest Land Inc. will just delay the development of the South Road Properties.

“Don’t try to shift the blame to the province kung nagbagood ang siyudad sa utang. Sila man ang nangutang niana,” Pablo John said, adding that Fernandez is using the province as a scapegoat.

The Capitol is now contemplating on going to court after the City Hall’s Joint Venture Selection Committee (JVSC) declared its counter proposal as ineligible owing to legal, technical and financial requirements that it reportedly failed to meet.

Fernandez earlier said that he was worried about Capitol’s plan to file an injunction because it will delay the implementation of the Filinvest’s proposal to develop a 50.6-hectare portion of the SRP under the joint venture agreement with the city government.

The P25-million deal with Filinvest was about to be completed.

But Pablo John, younger brother of Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, said that if the province files an injunction, it is because it is left with no other choice.

“Dili mahimo nga mohilom lang ta because that will spell the death of transparency,” he added.

He clarified that it is his own personal statement without prejudice on the legal action that would be taken by the provincial government.

Meanwhile, Pablo John believes that the stalled “Ciudad” development project of the provincial government is better discussed after Cebu City Mayor-on-leave Tomas Osmena’s term in 2010.

“I think it is better to wait,” the legislator said.

The relationship between Osmeña and Gov. Garcia turned sour when the Capitol threatened to evict some 5,000 of the city’s urban poor families who are living in the province-owned lots, following a failure in negotiations on the proposed lot swap deal between the two local government units.

Irked over the province’s inconsistency with its decision, the mayor asked the City Council to issue a resolution freezing the Capitol’s proposed multi-million Ciudad project in Banilad, pending the conduct of the traffic study to determine if the project will not worsen traffic congestion in Banilad-Talamban area.

With the absence of Osmeña and Vice Mayor Michael Rama now acting as the mayor, Pablo John said “the person is better and easier to deal with” compared to the mayor on-leave.

“Judging from the past few weeks that we had Acting Mayor Rama, I think the air is clearing a bit,” Pablo John said. — Garry B. Lao/WAB   (THE FREEMAN)