CREDIBILITY OF COMMITTEE QUESTIONED

AN APPRAISAL committee has been formed through an executive order of Mayor Benjamin S. Lim, signaling the start of the negotiation and sale of the MC Adore International Palace and a more than nine-hectare property of Dagupan intended for a housing project for city hall employees in Barangay Talibaew, Calasiao.

Lim’s executive order is in line with Resolution No. 3738 passed by the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) on April 27, 2012 during a controversial special session authorizing the mayor to negotiate the sale of MC Adore and the Calasiao property, the proceeds of which will be earmarked for priority development programs and projects of the city government.

Lim named City Administrator Vladimir Mata as chairman of the appraisal committee with Alan Dale Zarate, OIC city assessor, as assistant chairman.

The members are Councilor Karlos Liberato Reyna III, chairman on the committee on public works and infrastructure in Sangguniang Panlungsod; City Treasurer Romelita Alcantara; Atty. Roy Laforteza, assistant legal officer; Engineers Nestor de Vera and Marcelo Prado, both of the City Engineers Office; Eduardo Magno, OIC of the General Service Office; and Architect Emmanuel Palaganas of the Office of the City Planning and Development Office.

Also named members are representatives from the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders Association (CREBA), Inc., United Architect of the Philippines, Pangasinan chapter, and the Chamber of Commerce, Metro Dagupan City chapter.

WHY MATA?

Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez, chair of the SP, questioned the appointment of Mata as chair of the committee, pointing out that he is already holding multiple positions in the city government, including head of the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), City Planning and Development Office, City Disaster Risk reduction Management Council, and Local Finance Committee, aside from being the city administrator.

Mata, as councilor in 2001 was also part of the committee that recommended the purchase of the 30-hectare lot in San Jacinto for P16 million.

Fernandez also noted that Mata’s credibility is in question after he lied before the city council when he defended the planned tsunami hill project in Pugaro two months ago. Mata told the SP that no public bidding had been held although yet records later showed a bidding was already conducted as early as January, two months before the plan was submitted to the council.

At the same time, the vice mayor noted that City Engineer Virginia Rosario was not included as a member of the committee, and instead her assistants, De Vera and Prado, were appointed.

It will be recalled it was De Vera who issued a building permit for the Metro Plaza while Rosario, who refused to issue the permit due to deficiency in the application, was on leave.

Councilor Reyna, was the acting majority floor leader during the special session when the controversial resolution was passed unanimously without any discussion.

“Sa nakita kong composition ng appraisal committee, I don’t know if they can come up with a valid appraisal price,” said Fernandez, hinting that those named are known close allies of the the mayor.

Nonetheless, Fernandez said “I am hoping that the councilors would be on the side of the people of Dagupan City,” when the committee’s recommendation will be presented to the sanggunian for ratification.

The resolution that gave the mayor blanket authority to initiate the negotiation and sale of the two properties was hastily passed during a special SP session called by Lim when the vice mayor was in the US on an official trip.

Lim, for his part, promised that “utmost transparency” will be observed in the transactions.

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