THE Bacolod City Council approved Wednesday the committee report on the decision of Bacolod Real Estate Development Corp. (Bredco) to exercise the option to operate and manage the city port for another 25 years after the expiration of the original 25-year contract in 2020.
Councilor Caesar Distrito, chairperson of committee on laws and ordinances, said the committee report was approved with recommendations that Bredco will pay not less than P6-million annual compensation to the City Government.
It also stipulated that Bacolod will get a one-time P8-million backward adjustment, and will also receive 25 percent upward adjustment every five years.
Distrito said that Mayor Evelio Leonardia still has a leeway to request an amount higher than P6 million, if it is acceptable to Bredco.
John Palanca Alonte, president of Bredco, had agreed to the proposal presented by Distrito during the committee hearing held Monday at the City Council session hall.
The exercise of the option by Bredco is embodied in the March 16, 1995 Comprehensive Revised Reclamation Agreement (CRRA) between the City of Bacolod and Bredco.
Bredco’s contract will expire in March 2020, and at present, it is paying P800,000 per year to the City Government.
Nine of the 13 councilors voted in favor of the approval of the committee report.
Councilor Renecito Novero said he abstained because of his professional relationship with Bredco.
Councilor Wilson Gamboa was out of the session hall.
Distrito pointed out that Bredco offered a P3.8 million compensation, with an increase of around 350 percent while the Technical Working Group also made a proposal of P5.2 million based on the last 10 years income of Bredco.
The City Council asked if they can make it P6 million, with an increase of almost 800 percent with an average of at least P500,000 per month for five hectares. Or there will be at least P100,000 per hectare per month of compensation that the city will receive.
The City Government owns the 50,000 square meters lot at Bredco port.
Distrito clarified that they are not in a rush to tackle the agreement because Bredco sent their intention to exercise the option to operate and manage the port for another 25 years last year yet.
He said that he will submit the committee report to the City Mayor's Office and they will wait for the proposed memorandum of agreement.
Councilors Dindo Ramos, Cindy Rojas, Elmer Sy and Bartolome Orola said only a committee report was approved and it doesn’t mean that they already supported the extension of Bredco’s operation and management of the port.
They said they supported the P6-million annual compensation and it's up to the mayor if he will make changes on it.
They added that the P6 million is just and this is a big advantage to the City Government.
The councilors also urged Leonardia to further negotiate with Bredco to increase the amount of compensation.
