Who owns the Cebu City Sports Center?

CEBU CITY — Believe it or not, but the multimillion-peso Cebu City Sports Center constructed by the government in 1993, appears to be owned by nobody.

Worse, its reported earnings of close to P29 million it kept in a private bank are down to only about P300,000 with not a single centavo having gone to any government coffer.

The center is run by a board of directors, composed mainly of government officials, but the board itself answers to no government unit or agency.

The Freeman obtained an income statement covering its earnings from the time it opened for the 1994 Palarong Pambansa to July 31 this year, showing earnings amounting to P28.7 million from rentals and fees.

These rentals and fees cover the use of the track, swimming pool and other sporting facilities, as well as for canteen space, entrance and parking fees, concerts and other events.

But none of the money goes to either the Cebu City government or the national government, both of which helped build the facility.

The money is instead deposited with the Bank of the Philippine Islands in the name of the Cebu City Sports Center, its account signatories being the center’s manager and two education officials.

Ricky Ballesteros is the new manager, replacing long-time manager Juan Aquino only last June 30.

Board members

Ballesteros, as manager, is a member of a five-man board of directors whose chairman is whoever is the sitting regional director of the Palarong Pambansa. The board oversees the operations of the sports center, constructed at a cost of P200 million by both the national government through the Department of Education, and the Cebu City government.

When the need arises to appropriate any amount from the money in the bank, it is the board that meets to decide on the matter.

Aside from the education department’s regional director as chairman, in this case Pablo Antopina, and the center’s manager, in this case Ballesteros, the other board members are the chairman of the city council’s committee on education, the city schools division superintendent, and a private sector representative.

Ballesteros, upon assuming office, immediately asked for a state audit of the center’s income and expenditures since it opened in 1994.

What Ballesteros initially learned was that from 1994 to July 31 this year, the center earned P28,763,557 but reportedly incurred P25,527,056 in expenses.

That would have left a balance of a little over P3 million but when Aquino left his post, the amount left in the bank was only about P380,000.

‘No wrongdoings’

Aquino quickly denied any implications of wrongdoings. Julieta Vestil, who became bookkeeper after Aquino left, backed him up.

One indication that none of its earnings goes to the government, particularly the city government, is that a employee issues temporary receipts to users of the center’s parking area. The receipts bear no official marking either of the center itself or of the city.

Asked about this, security guard Jun Florentino said, "Private man ning sports center, sir. Dili man ni sa gobyerno (This sports center is private, not the government’s)."

City treasurer Eustaquio Cesa said parking tickets and other receipts used by the sports center are neither registered nor sanctioned by his office.

Antopina was in Manila and could not be contacted for comment. Ballesteros and city schools’ division superintendent Leonilo Oliva, another board member, said they have no objections if the sports center is placed directly under the city government.