Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia said he will submit to the Sangguniang Panlungsod the loan proposals of the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Philippine National Bank for the construction of the new government center.

"I want to give the SP the two loan proposals and let them choose which bank they want to get the loan from," he said, adding that he is doing this for transparency. In an interview over DYRL, Leonardia said he knew since last week that the board of the LBP had already approved the P400 million loan for the government center of Bacolod. But since they have not yet received the official letter, he held the information, he said.

"I want to see the fine print first because I want to know the terms and conditions," Leonardia said. Although his preference was LBP, there were terms and conditions that were not yet clear, so he authorized Councilor Al Victor Espino, chairman of the Committee on Finance and Appropriation, and City Administrator Lorendo Dilag to also talk to the officials of PNB. PNB, TOO

Leonardia said he also asked the executives of PNB to study the proposed loan of the city. We are willing to get the loan from PNB if the terms and conditions are better than what LBP can offer, he said.

He said the plan to construct a new city hall was also pushed 30 years ago by former Bacolod Rep. Romeo Guanzon when he was mayor, and Guanzon received a donation of 20 hectares in Vista Alegre. There was a structure started in the area but the project did not push through although other mayors tried to pursue it, he added.

Leonardia said when he was mayor in 1995, they negotiated with the Gensoli family for a 10-hectare property. Towards the end of 1997, he said, they signed a contract with the family and the United Architects of the Philippines prepared a design. However, when he lost the elections in 1998, the administration that followed wanted to buy a property for the new city hall.

CAMPAIGN PROMISE

Leonardia said the construction of a new government center is one of his campaign promises and was mentioned in his State of the City Address last year. As early as September last year, he had issued an executive order for the construction of the project, he said.

He said the project should be started before Dec. 31, 2006 as stipulated in the deed of donation of the Gonzaga family who provided the city a 5-hectare property in Brgy. Vilamonte worth P140 million.

MERCED CASE

Meanwhile, Leonardia said no deliberation has been held on the status of Bacolod police director Supt. Pedro Merced, after it was alleged that there will be a revamp of police chiefs when Chief Supt. Geary Barias took over last week as regional police director.

Leonardia said he and Barias never discussed anything about Merced when they were together in Iloilo when Bacolod received an award from the Regional Development Council of Western Visayas for the implementation of its Indigenous Supplementary Mixture (Insumix) feeding program.*CGS

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