NegOcc PB ratifies contracts with Ayala

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines —The Negros Occidental Provincial Board approved during a special session last Monday the contracts for sale and lease of a 7.7- hectare prime property of the provincial government, which Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. and Ayala Land officials signed last week.

Both the Contract for Conditional Sale and the Contract for Lease were submitted by the provincial government to the Commission on Audit (COA) Head Office in July last year for approval, however, COA noted only last week that the contracts were deficient because they were unsigned.

Marañon then went to Manila last Thursday (April 26) to sign the contracts with Ayala Land President Antonino Aquino and Senior Vice President Jose Emmanuel Jalandoni.

Marañon said they submitted the signed contracts to COA last Monday.

Board Member Mae Javellana presided the special session in the absence of Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez Jr. who was in Manila for a medical check-up.

The Board also authorized the governor to sign the contracts on behalf of the provincial government and to approve the Capitol Civic Center development plan on the 7.7-hectare property, which Ayala Land is proposing to build with P6-billion in investments.

The Board ratified the unsigned contracts about 10 months ago.

Marañon said that will the requirements having been complied with, he is hopeful that COA will soon approve the contracts, which have been pending with the Commission for nine months already.

The governor earlier said that from all indications, the project is already “a go”. He said the project is already a “signed deal” and “everything will go on as planned although a bit late.”

Based on the sale and lease contracts, Ayala Land will buy from the Negros Occidental provincial government 3.6587 hectares of land worth P750,033,500 subject to an initial payment of 50 percent with the balance to be paid on a quarterly basis over a one-year period.

To be leased is 4.0481 hectares at P2,955,133 a month with rent increasing at 10 percent every five years.

Ayala will deposit P35,461,356 covering one year rent, the contracts stated.

The P6-billion Capitol Civic Center would have been an integrated mixed-use civic and commercial district, with retail, office, residential and hotel components and is envisioned to be the growth center of Negros Occidental, Jalandoni said earlier. — (FREEMAN)