MANILA, Philippines—Cebu Rep. Pablo John Garcia Wednesday asked Congress to look into the joint venture agreement between Cebu City and a private company to develop some 50 hectares of reclaimed land for allegedly being inimical to the interest of the city government.

“The sale is an unprecedented milking of the city’s properties, unparalleled in its nature, its scope, its degree, and its brazenness.” Garcia stressed.

In a privilege speech and in a press statement, Garcia also asked the House of Representatives to consider legislation to provide stiffer penalties for violation of the constitutional provision governing the disposition of lands of the public domain.

Garcia also asked Congress to consider legislation “to set the parameters within which local government units may enter into joint venture agreements with the private sector, and to provide for stricter compliance with the requirement for congressional approval in the sale of lands of the public domain.”

In his speech, Garcia referred to the joint venture agreement recently concluded between the city government and Filinvest Land, Inc., involving a 50.6 hectare area of the South Road Properties, formerly the South Reclamation Project, in Cebu City.

He said that the project was originally submitted to bidding, but only the province of Cebu submitted a bid. The provincial government, however, was disqualified for not being a private developer.

“With no other bidders, the City of Cebu proceeded to negotiate a contract with Filinvest. The deal, which is now the Joint Venture Agreement, departs, and deviates, from what the deal purported to be in the published invitation to bid, not on a few points, but on all material points,” Garcia decried.

He explained that the project started as an “unsolicited proposal” from Filinvest Land, Inc. to develop the property as a “central business district type” development. It also called for Filinvest to pay P1.5 billion pesos within the first three years.

But “instead of an unincorporated joint venture over 50.6 hectares, the deal provides for an outright sale of 10.6 hectares to Filinvest, and only 40 hectares for the proposed joint venture,” Garcia declared.

He said this contravened the Supreme Court ruling in the PIATCo case that in a negotiated bidding, the parties may not substantially depart from the original terms of the bid.

“To do so would be contrary to public policy, as it would make a mockery of the bidding process, and render it futile,” he said.