Bacolod Councilor Al Victor Espino said yesterday that the option of the city to take over the operation and management of the Bacolod Port is not dead.

Contrary to other declarations, it is very much alive, he said, and they have not closed the doors on the issue. But since there is a deadlock in the negotiation between the city and the Bacolod Real Estate Development Corp. on the upward adjustment of the annual port rental, they are seeking other venues in which to break that impasse, he said.

BREDCO is currently paying the city P800,000 in annual rental.

During the negotiation the city had proposed an upward adjustment of P17 million while BREDCO only proposed P1.4 million. On March 8, the Sangguniang Panlungsod authorized Mayor Evelio Leonardia to file the appropriate case for judicial determination of what constitutes a fair and reasonable yearly rental for the management and operation of the Bacolod Port.

Espino said he believes there will be no impediment for the city to pursue the matter.

Leonardia said it has been more than one year since he gave the matter to the SP and apparently, there are circumstances that will not allow them to pursue the takeover ordinance since they don't have the number.

In the meantime that the issue is pending, it is not advantageous to the city at all, because the annual rental stays at P800,000, he said.

"Considering that in the last negotiation between the city and BREDCO we could not agree on the amount, and it seems very difficult for us to deal with the matter, I believe that the judicial determination is the most logical and practical thing to do," Leonardia said. "And besides, we don't want this term ended with these issues hanging," he added.

Leonardia said the takeover is something that the SP will have to resolve, and from the way it looks there, they don't have the numbers. If that continues to be pending, that would be prejudicial to the city, he said.

Meanwhile, Leonardia said he and Vice Mayor Renecito Novero, who is one of the lawyers of BREDCO, are politically open and mature on the issue, and that they can take up political issues for what they are, just as issues.*CGS

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