Rama vetoes ordinance on sports hub at SRP

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama has vetoed City Ordinance 2413, which allocates a portion of the South Road Properties as a “one-stop sports hub.”

“I hereby exercise my veto power disapproving Ordinance No. 2413 considering that the passage thereof is beyond the power of the Legislative Body, the City Council, thus, ultra vires and prejudicial to public welfare,” he said in his veto message.

Rama said he is not against the establishment of a one-stop sports hub in SRP, as it is one of his envisioned projects, but he was constrained to object to the passage of the ordinance because “delineating specific location and how property is to be allocated, to be taken from SRP, are within the province of the Executive Department.”

He cited Section 455 of the Local Government Code, which states that the local chief executive “provide(s) efficient and effective property and supply management in the city; and protect the funds, credits, rights and other properties of the city.”

CO 2413, authored by City Councilors Eugenio Gabuya Jr., Mary Ann de los Santos, and Nendell Hanz Abella, earmarked 10.6 hectares of the SRP as a one-stop sports hub.

The ordinance also identified a location, particularly the lot near Bigfoot Properties at the SRP, which Rama did not like.

He said he is willing to set aside at least three hectares and at most five hectares as long as the traffic problem that would arise would be addressed at.

“The allocation of 10 hectares for the said one-stop sports hub is not feasible in view of the layout of the South Road Properties,” Rama said.

“To allocate 10 hectares for the said sports hub would definitely produce traffic problem in the future, granting this project will push through, in view of the present limited access in the area involved,” he added.

The veto message of the mayor will be discussed on January 7 during the first regular session of the City Council next year. — (FREEMAN)