A resolution declaring the inadequacy of the present City Hall site and the need to look for another site to more adequately respond to the present and future needs of Bacolod City and its people of was unanimously passed yesterday by the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod.

The SP also adopted a resolution establishing the guidelines, procedures and steps to be taken for the selection of a site for the new seat of government or government center for Bacolod City.

Councilor Lyndon Caña said the present City Hall was donated in 1933 by the Negros Occidental provincial government to the city, not the Luzurriaga family, based on the letter submitted by former Vice Mayor Ramiro Garcia to the SP.

He said according to Garcia, the present site known as Lot no. 22, was donated by the family of the late Jose R. Luzurriaga to the provincial government in 1906. However, in 1932, when the leaders of the province and the city were discussing the possibility of a new "municipio" or the early municipality of Bacolod, both parties agreed to a swapping of lots, he said.

Caña said the municipality of Bacolod, which owns Lot no. 7, swapped its property for Lot no. 22 with an area of 2,300 square meters, owned by the province.

Based on the research furnished the SP by Garcia, the deed of donation, which was feared to be conditional, has never been found, Caña said. And since it is the province that donated the lot to the city, and not the Luzurriaga family, therefore, there is no condition attached to the city for the exchange, he said.

Caña said that in the letter of Garcia, he is proposing that the city sell the present City Hall to help it finance the construction of a new building. But the city officials, during their discussions in previous caucuses, have decided to retain the use of the present City Hall as a public facility, he said.

The City Hall Committee, chaired by City Administrator Lorendo Dilag, has received 13 offers for the proposed plan of the city to put up a new government center, aside from its plan to construct a new city hall in the government-owned property in Brgy. Taculing and the proposal to renovate the existing City Hall building at Araneta-Luzuriaga streets.*CGS

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