Politics behind CIPC shake up, says Tom

Former Cebu City south district congressman Tomas Osmeña sharply rebuked Mayor Michael Rama’s handling of the Cebu Investment Promotions Center (CIPC), reminding him that the center should have been insulated from politics to fulfill its mission of inviting foreign investments to Cebu.

Osmeña said the “attempt to disband the CIPC” by Mayor Rama is a result of political vindictiveness.

“To put it simply, Mike Rama thinks Joel Marie Yu is supporting ‘Type O’ so he wants him (Yu) out. That I think is the reason. But Joel, as you can attest, has never been active politically and he has done a good job. In 2007-2008, Cebu City was named by an international publication as one of the tiger cities in Asia,” he said.

Yu is managing director of CIPC.

During their September 3 session, Councilor Hans Abella reported to the council the resignation of four members of the CIPC board of trustees led by its chairman Geronimo Sta. Ana.

Mayor Rama who is now in Taiwan said that he will call Sta. Ana when he gets back from his foreign trip next week. Aside from the resignation issue, he also wants to discuss with him how the City Hall assistance amounting to P5 million to CIPC had been spent.

With their resignation, Rama said, he is no longer inclined to release this year’s P5.4 million assistance to CIPC.

Former congressman Osmeña, who spoke to reporters after the commemoration of the 135th birthday anniversary of the late president Sergio Osmeña Sr., his grandfather and the country’s only Cebuano head of state.

Osmeña said that Rama should not make an issue out of the city’s P5 million assistance to the CIPC considering the millions worth of investments it can generate not only for the city but to the whole province as well.

The CIPC has been marketing the 300-hectare South Road Properties (SRP).

Osmeña reiterated to Rama yesterday his warning against mismanaging the SRP.

He is proposing a plebiscite to also hear the people’s idea on how they wanted the SRP to be handled.

Osmeña added he has always wanted to regulate the disposal of land at the SRP to make sure that when sold, SRP lots will not be left idle. He also wanted the disposal of land spread so make sure that enough funds from SRP sales will be available in the next 20 years.

Rama for his part wanted to sell lots at the SRP now to make funds available that could help address the city’s liquidity problems.

But Osmeña said that except for the Japanese investor who wanted to set up a retirement facility in a less than a hectare big lot at the SRP, Rama have not been successful in bringing investors to Cebu City.

Osmeña lost to Rama in the May 2013 mayoral race.

Hands-off on BRT

Meanwhile, Osmeña is laying his hands off on the proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project.

Asked if he will lobby to President Aquino the approval of the BRT under the Public-Private Partnership scheme, he said: “I am not in a position to do that.”

He added that it is now up to Mayor Rama to work for the approval of the project.

Asked further on its chances of implementation, Osmeña said “Of course wasted na gyud na, nothing is going to happen the way I see it, right now.”

The World Bank and the French government have expressed interest in investing in the BRT but Aquino shelved it last year, saying it needs further study. /Doris C. Bongcac, Chief of Reporters