Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday said he believes the city should still vigorously pursue negotiations with the Bacolod Real Estate Development Corp. and that it is not yet time to discuss the takeover of the port operation of BREDCO, as proposed by the "minority report."

Leonardia said the report contravenes the major highlight of the decision, they had asked him to make, which was to renegotiate with BREDCO within 60 days. If the negotiation fails within that period, the option to take over will be pursued, he said.

The "minority report" submitted by Councilors Lyndon Caña, Homer Bais, Greg Gasataya, Dindo Ramos and Jude Thaddeus Sayson, recommended that the city abrogate its relationship with BREDCO and take over the port operations, re-bid it, and look for an investor or new partner to finish the reclamation area and operate the port itself.

BUSINESS SECTOR VIEW

Leonardia said the decision of the city to renegotiate has been somehow encouraged by opinions and suggestions from the business sector that the city should be more investor-friendly. "To allow investments to grow, we should always try to explore solutions that will make our city a healthy place for business to grow," he said. He added that believes the more realistic and practical approach is to negotiate, in order to avoid long term litigations which, in the end, might prove to be disadvantageous to all parties concerned.

Leonardia said part of the minority report that can be used by the negotiating panel are the facts and figures gathered which will be subject to checking and verification and, after validation, will become an input for their decision on certain matters.

Secretary to the Mayor Roger Balo said the negotiating panel has already covered more than half of the Comprehensive Revised Reclamation Agreement between the city and BREDCO. The panel will again meet and continue discussing on Wednesday the rest of the provisions of the contract.

"At this pace, I am optimistic that we can complete the negotiation before the 60-day period," he said.

After their meeting Saturday, he also said the panel will discuss with BREDCO points that need clarification like the land titling, extent of the reclamation project, the cost of reclamation and development, and the responsibility of the Philippine Estate Authority in the titling of the reclaimed land, and proceed with the discussion of other provisions in the contract.

BREDCO STILL "IN CHARGE"?

Meanwhile, Leonardia said the issue of whether the city is still dealing with BREDCO was taken up during their first meeting and the panel of BREDCO maintained it is still in charge of the whole situation. He said City Legal Officer Allan Zamora has required the BREDCO representatives to submit documents to establish it, furthermore, to avoid any other interpretation. "Right now we are going ahead with the negotiation on the assumption that it is BREDCO we are dealing with," he added.

Leonardia said he believes the P800,000 annual port rental to the city of BREDCO is too small under existing circumstances. He said that, for the city to come up with the right amount, the panel will have to study facts and figures, and realities and look for whatever is fair, even to the extent that, if the city was disadvantaged in the contract, it should be compensated this time.

LOST TIME

"The contract should have been reviewed after the five year period as stipulated in the CRRA," Leonardia said. If it had been reviewed in 2000, there would not have been so much pressure on the city now, he added.

But because it is being done only now, when it should have been already amended long before, what the city is doing now is try to make up for all the lost time, since, every year the circumstances change, as well as, the economic factors, Leonardia also said.*CGS

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