By Nora Soriño,
Iligan City Bureau Chief
and Sita Asequia,
Correspondent
Former Iligan city administrator questioned the Sangguniang Panlungsod over the weekend for their decision not to introduce to the body the contractor of the planned construction of the Pala-o market in the city.
Former Iligan city administrator Leo Zaragoza said they would just plunge right away, and immediately, unmindful of the consequences of their actions,” the lawyer Zaragoza said.
“This is like going into a marriage contract, signing said contract whereby one party not knowing about the groom or the bride is.” said lawyer Zaragoza, adding that he or she does not know whether the other party is an addict, or has some disorder.
On Tuesday last week, 11 members of the SP voted “yes” to give city mayor Celso Regencia the authority to enter into a contract with the winning bidder, while 4 councilors abstained.
The four were Simplicio Larrazabal III, Michelle Sweet, Queenie Belmonte, and Atty. Providencio Abragan, Jr. all members of the opposition.
It was learned that the contractor is BM Marketing, of Tacloban City and the groundbreaking is scheduled on the 20th of this month.
The cost of the project is P590 million, but this has been lowered to P583 million, Zaragoza said, adding that the original “approved” budget of P590 million included a basement parking. But along came somebody, who decided that there would be no more such parking.
Zaragoza added that he had heard his friend, Councilor Noli Pardillo who is also his “kumpare” saying that such was only “hearsay” meaning that approval of the project with such kind of parking space, the basement parking is “not true.”
Zaragoza said that he has “documents” to show such, so it isn’t hearsay. “This is our city,” he said, and “what a waste of money.”
Then the city has also decided that it is going to “buy” the lot of Melanio Siao for the parking space at P100,000 per square meter. “What a waste of money,” he said emphasizing the city folks should be “vigilant’’ on matters like this.
Siao’s place is the adjoining area where the Pala-o market is slated to be constructed.
Earlier, Vice Mayor Jemar Vera Cruz said that to have the contractor meet with the city officials would “delay” the project further.
Meanwhile, lawyer Moises Dalisay, Jr. agreed with Zaragoza’s decision, saying that people here “cannot just stand helplessly” on the matter. They have the option to file complaints maybe with the Ombudsman or the courts here.
