‘Rama ordered Bigfoot contract review out of spite’

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama’s decision to order a review of Bigfoot Entertainment Corp’s lease contract in the South Road Properties (SRP) is spurred by owner Michael Gliessner’s refusal to talk to him.

“He (Rama is angry and) trying to pick on Mr. Gliessner because he would not pick u[ his (Rama’s) call,” Rep. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district told Cebu Daily News yesterday.

Rama earlier ordered a review of the studio’s lease contract to see if they actually used the two-hectare lot for film production.

“We cannot allow a structure standing with nothing being done,” he said.

The mayor said he is concerned about the lack of activities at the Bigfoot studio which has a 25-year lease contract with the city that started in 2007.

The P150 million facility consisting of four sound stages that were barely used, Rama said.

Gliessner said during the studio’s inauguration in Nov. 2008 that the Bigfoot studio in Cebu aims to “bring Hollywood to Asia.”

Osmeña said he hasn’t talked to Gliessner for a while but heard that Rama has been trying to call him several times.

Osmeña said Rama could always order a review of the Bigfoot contract but warned that the mayor will find everything to be in order.

“He (Gliessner) has been paying his rent and he does not own the property. At the end of it (the 25-year contract, it (the Bigfoot studio) will be owned by the city,” he said.

Osmeña also justified the $0.40 per sq. meter contract lease which he gave to Bigfoot, saying that while the amount was low, it was the “going rate” of the SRP in 2007.

He explained that Filinvest Land Inc. and SM Prime Holdings have not yet bought portions of the reclaimed lot.

Osmeña said there’s no stipulation in the contract that Bigfoot should use the lot to generate employment.

“Our only interest is for them to come in and pay the rent,” he said.

Osmeña said the US economic crisis prevented Gliessner from pursuing an earlier plan to use the Bigfoot SRP studio to produce films here.

“The mayor is just politicizing everything,” the congressman said. Instead of picking on Gliessner, Osmeña asked Rama to find his own investors.

He said Rama was unable to lure even one investor since becoming mayor in 2010.