AFTER DEFENDING PROJECT

Baraan charges CE withheld build permit

After submitting an unsigned report defending the planned construction of a tourism structure at the Magsaysay Park, Councilor Teofilo Guadiz III has made a surprise turnaround and said the project is “illegal by itself”.

Guadiz prepared the committee report supporting the project but now refuses to sign it which has kept Sangguniang Panglungsod action pending for sometime now.

Guadiz, who did not seek reelection in the last polls and who has been appointed as assistant secretary of the Department of Transportation and Communication effective July 1, now maintains that the construction for the P84 million build-operate-transfer eco-tourism complex is illegal without a building permit.

Meanwhile, City Administrator Rafael Baraan has confirmed The PUNCH report that the construction at the former Magsaysay Park is not yet covered by a building permit, but stopped short of saying it is illegal.

In defending the project, the city administrator points to the City Engineer Virginia Rosario as the official being remiss in her duties for failing to issue the necessary construction permit.

Baraan accused Rosario of abusing her authority when she refused to issue the building permit when in fact all the plans and specifications for the building were already submitted to her office.

Baraan said, “It is not her job to determine legality. That is the job of the city mayor, the city administrator and the city legal officer.”

Rosario earlier told The PUNCH that she does not want to issue a building permit until MetroState Realty Corporation, the supposed winner in a controversial bidding, submits along with the building plans and specifications, a copy of the resolution issued by the Sangguniang Panlungsod authorizing Mayor Benjamin Lim to enter into contract with the company.

Baraan said they can issue Rosario a memorandum explaining her responsibilities even as he accused the city engineer of putting herself and the city in a “very precarious situation”,

“SQUATTER”

Guadiz likened the builder, MetroState, to a squatter who is building a house on a land it does not own and, therefore, can be driven out of it any time.

“If it is illegal, then the city government can do two things: order the contractor (MetroState) to demolish the building; and if the latter does not comply, the city government can take over the building”, said Guadiz, a lawyer.

Rosario has not indicated whether her office will proceed with either course of action.

MetroState, whose leading officer is Alex Guadiz Siapno, a second cousin of the councilor, started building the project only a few days before the start of the election ban, based on a contract it reportedly signed and executed with Lim.

Outside of the claim, however, the city hall has not shown a copy of the contract.

According to Guadiz, while admitting that a resolution was passed authorizing the mayor to enter into contract with Metro State, the same has not been signed by the members of the city council owing to the desire of other members to review and revise the same.

“If you will see the records of the Sanggunian, the vice mayor (Alvin Fernandez) did not sign any resolution or ordinance about this, said Guadiz, referring to the action taken by the legislative body in its regular session in the afternoon of December 19, 2006.

Fernandez has repeatedly pointed out that he did not sign the resolution since it must first conform with the condition prescribed at the time of its approval, that a copy of the minutes of the December 19, 2006 special session be attached to the same, and that the committee report must be signed by Guadiz. 

He told The PUNCH that the councilors who gave their nod to the resolution also refused to sign the minutes until after Guadiz signs the committee report.

Guadiz said MetroState is proceeding with the project at its own risk given a possibility that the next city administration of Mayor-elect Alipio Fernandez Jr. through the new Sangguniang Panlungsod, will revise and review the contract. 

The contract stipulates that Metro State will pay the government P1 million a year as lease for the property which its building occupies, an amount considered by the concerned  bloc in the present city council as too low and disadvantageous to the city.

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