The Bacolod City government and the management of the Bacolod Real Estate Development Corp. port should sit down immediately instead of going into a contentious debate that will turn off foreign and local investors, House Speaker Jose de Venecia said yesterday.

"I invite both sides to sit down immediately and resolve their problem amicably for the good of the people of Bacolod and Negros," he said, adding that the parties concerned could also ask the president or other third parties to intervene to help them reach some settlement.

The speaker was responding to a question on whether it is right for the city government to take over the BREDCO port management as it threatened to do so after no agreement was reached on the amount of compensation to be paid the city for the use of the port. The city government is seeking compensation of P17.5 million from the present P800,000 annual rental it has been receiving from BREDCO for more than 10 years. However, BREDCO wants to pay only P1.4 million a year.

At a press conference at the Bacolod Pavillion Resort Hotel and Restaurant, attended by Rep. Jose Carlos Lacson (Neg. Occ., 3rd district), Bacolod Vice Mayor Renecito Novero and Sammy Palanca, BREDCO president, de Venecia said the private sector should be encouraged to undertake their projects without excessive government intervention, but private projects must live up to the terms of their contracts.

"If there is basis for the compensation the city government is asking for, then it's okay but if there is no basis for it, then that's too much. Government should stay out of the private sector then," he said.

"We must not reverse the privatization process… we should not support, as a principle takeovers," he said.

But if there are any complaints, these should also be corrected by the private sector in order to satisfy government, and the best way to do this thing is not to attack each other, but to sit down and solve the problem, he said.

He pointed out that Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia, Novero and Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella are all his friends.*CPG

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