The Dumaguete City Council, in a special session Friday, has withdrawn the authority it had issued to Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo in July to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with EM Cuerpo Inc., the proponent of the controversial 174-hectare reclamation project.
The move came barely a few hours after the City Council received a request from the Mayor in a letter dated Sept. 8.
The Mayor said he decided to withdraw the request for authority to sign the MOU “after a careful consideration and in-depth study of the factual circumstances and legal ratifications”.
He said he has decided to defer the signing of the Notice of Award to EM Cuerpo as winning bidder of the Swiss challenge for the ‘smart city’ project until and after the governing board of the Philippine Reclamation Authority shall have reviewed and passed upon the entire biding process conducted by the PPP Selection Committee, so as not to preempt any action or decision on the matter by the PRA.
Remollo, however, said the City may still pursue its applications for pertinent permits with the PRA and the Department of Environment & Natural Resources relative to the ‘smart city’ project “at the proper time”.
The request of Remollo was made after the City Council received a letter from Atty. Janilo Rubiato, PRA general manager, to City Vice Mayor Karissa Faye Tolentino-Maxino dated Sept. 7.
In that letter, Rubiato clarified several points raised by Councilors Rosel Erames, Agustin Miguel Perdices, Joe Kenneth Arbas, and Bernice Anne Elmaco in a letter they emailed Aug. 27, seeking confirmation of the statements made by PRA Assistant General Manager Atty. Joseph John Literal during a policy dialogue hosted by Oceana earlier last month.
Assistant GM Literal had mentioned that Dumaguete City does not have a pending application for the reclamation project with the PRA; that PRA never received any request for review from Dumaguete for the Swiss challenge and for the terms of reference of the unsolicited proposal of EM Cuerpo, and that a prior clearance is needed from the PRA prior to the conduct of the Swiss challenge for reclamation projects.
All those points shared by lawyer Literal in the policy dialogue were confirmed by GM Rubiato in his letter to the City Council, who further said that under the law, all reclamation contracts shall go through public bidding, consistent with the government’s thrust to promote transparency and competitiveness.
Rubiato said that because of the competitive challenge, it is possible that other companies will get the project, and not necessarily the joint venture partner that the City has identified.
