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[av_heading heading=’ Bacolod City local gov’t defies terminal lot donor’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY MAE SINGUAY
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Wednesday, April 19, 2017
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BACOLOD City – The city government insists on separating the eastbound terminal from the new southbound terminal.
This plan contradicts the condition that Yanson Realty Development Corp. (YRDC) set in donating a 5-hectare property for the south terminal.
The YRDC has threatened to cancel the donation if the condition — “consolidate” the east terminal with the new south terminal — is not met.
Councilor Dindo Ramos said the city government is pushing through with the construction of the new south terminal in Barangay Tangub, as provided for under City Ordinance (CO) No. 08-15-746.
But the chairman of the Sangguniang Panlungsod committee on transportation said he is also ready to file a proposed ordinance laying down guidelines for the establishment of the east terminal in Barangay Mansilingan.
A road network will have to be built as part of the new south terminal.
But Evelio Leonardia wants to know the cost first before giving a go-signal, Ramos told the press on Tuesday, recalling his conversation with the mayor last week.
Ramos cannot give an estimate as of press time. But he said that once the construction of the new south terminal gets a green light, they will push for the approval of work on the east terminal.
He said they believe the new south terminal, like the northbound terminal in Barangay Bata, will help lessen vehicular congestion.
Ramos said they are also anticipating complaints, especially from ambulant vendors at the Libertad Market, once the two new terminals are built.
The current south terminal is on Lopez Jaena Street. But several southbound public utility vehicles (PUVs) are using an area at the Libertad Market as a “waiting area,” while some eastbound PUVs also pick up passengers there.
“We cannot be indecisive on things that are wrong,” Ramos said in Hiligaynon, referring to the possible backlash of organizing the PUVs. “We have to decide and stand up to it.”
But city hall might not be able to push through with the new south terminal if the YRDC cancels its property donation.
“The inclusion of the east terminal is an integral condition of this donation,” YRDC president Leo Rey Yanson wrote then mayor Monico Puentevella in March 2016.
The Deed of Donation was ratified October 2015 yet. The city council also passed CO No. 08-15-746 in the same year. But YRDC later discovered that the two measures pertained only to the new south terminal.
Ramos admitted the city government violated the deal with YRDC. A provision in the Deed of Donation stated that the two new terminals must be built on the donated lot on or before Dec. 1, 2015 yet.
The road network should have been built before that date, Ramos said. But given the city government’s willingness to build the new south terminal, the YRDC can waive this provision, he said.
In October 2016, YRDC vice president on legal matters Collin Derk Isidto wrote Leonardia that they sent the city government on Oct. 7, 2015 a revised Deed of Donation stating the lot must be used for south and east terminals.
“The donated property shall be exclusively, directly and solely used, utilized and devoted as the exclusive public terminal of the south and east of Bacolod City,” read part of the Deed of Donation./PN
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