The Bacolod City government and the Bacolod Real Estate Development Corp. should continue to negotiate and explore all possible avenues towards a win-win solution, Transportation and Communication Assistant Secretary Ricardo Tan said yesterday.

Tan's sentiment was also shared by businessman Harish Nandwani, who said he believes that the government and business sector should sit down together and join forces and think of the city and its people.

Meanwhile, Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Roberto Montelibano said he believes the decision of the city to take over the management and operation of the Bacolod port creates a wrong impression to the business community. The business community prefer businesses ran privately because they have seen government run business down the ground, he said. "Even if the city owns the port, I would like to see that it is ran by the private sector, " he added.

Now that we have a good port, lets keep a balance and leave it to the courts to decide on the issues, Montelbano said.

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia, however, said, "I don't think there is a reason for the businessmen to be apprehensive since the city is simply going after its own interest, being the owner of the port."

Leonardia said there is no instance where one can say that the city has persecuted anybody. This is just a matter of implementing a contract between the city and BREDCO, he said. There is no cause for the business sector to worry since the city is willing to listen to them, he added.

Leonardia said he signed an Executive Order creating a council to work on the economic and business growth of Bacolod which will be headed by Bro. Rolando Dizon. "We are trying our best to be friendly with the business community because we believe that, as business grows, Bacolod will also grow," he said. "It is an important sector to us and I assure them that that we will try to make the city more business-friendly," he added.

Leonardia said that is why the city has established a "one-stop-shop" at the Bays Center for the renewal of business permits. He said he believes it is one of the first to be implemented in the country. Even the concept of coming up with a government center where almost all government offices can be located, is also a step towards making the city business-friendly, he said.

Nandwani said he believes BREDCO president Simplicio Palanca did an amazing job in building the port. If the city intends to get the port, it should compensate BREDCO, he said. If this situation arose, it is obviously because the contract was flawed and city officials then only have themselves to blame, he said.

The contract signed between the city and BREDCO in 1961 states that the port is to be owned by the city.

Leonardia said he does not question the performance of Palanca and the city is giving him the credit for pursuing the project. "I even admire him for what he has done, but it so happens that the port area belongs to the city, " he said, citing the contract terms.

Everybody is entitled to his own opinion because many of the issues are in the stage of academics, but the reckoning will come when realities seep in, Leonardia said.*CGS

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