Tom says CICC better off as ‘funeral parlor’

LOSSES incurred from the operations of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) may be recovered if the Cebu provincial government sells the structure and the “valuable” property that it occupies.

“They can sell the whole thing as a real estate and see what the market will do. It will even make more money as a funeral parlor,” said Rep. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district.

Osmeña, the arch critic of suspended Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, said the CICC will be more attractive and its income will increase if it was made part of a hotel complex and placed next to commercial establishments.

“The CICC has done nothing but give competition to Waterfront Hotel (convention center) and the Sacred Heart Center,” he said.

Earlier the office of acting Cebu Gov. Agnes Magpale said the CICC incurred P41.8 million in losses since it was opened in 2008.

Magpale’s spokesperson, Dara Acusar, said the amount includes the maintenance and operations costs like its P10.18 million power bill incurred from 2009 to last year’.

Osmeña said another option is to convert the CICC into a funeral parlor for rich people.

He said rich people who pass away would need a bigger area than the private rooms offered by the existing funeral parlors.

“Right now nobody wants to have a convention there (at CICC) because you do not even know where to eat. It will make more money as a funeral parlor,” he said.

Osmena said the CICC construction was a “blatant waste” of government funds.

Garcia initially said the project would only cost P250 million. But the center eventually cost P800 million.

The structure, he said, was also built as part of Garcia’s “ego tripping.” Osmeña also pointed to the use of scrap irons from the South Road Properties during the CICC project which remains unresolved by the Visayas Ombudsman.

The Japanese contractor of the SRP admitted that they donated used scrap iron to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) regional office.

“I was told that the scrap iron were sold under the table and used in the construction of the CICC,” said Osmeña, former Cebu City mayor.

Osmeña said the Visayas Ombudsman has to be reminded of the complaint that remains pending before them. Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac with a story from Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus