THE issue on the unfinished Naga City coliseum which until now remains roofless and with lots of money from the city coffers paid for the interest --- repeat, just the interest --- of a loan to construct it and to rehabilitate it has become a bukol in the administration of Mayor Jesse M. Robredo, a bukol whose pain becomes more intense as the end of his term in office draws closer. The mayor is doing everything to have the coliseum completed before his term in office ends ----everything, including the imposition of new taxes, even to the extent of twisting the arms of the Sanggunian Panlungsod to authorize him to enter into a new loan package.
It is no wonder then that the Mayor’s men in the Sanggunian Panlungsod have proposed an ordinance raising by 200% the fair market value of real properties in the City of Naga.
It is no wonder then that the City Mayor has set in motion the rehabilitation of Central Business District I into one with cultural and historical design and disposition ---- which he has not been doing since he entered into public office in the City of Naga ---among his agenda for his final term in office. Such rehabilitation works would be presented as a vibrant countermove of the city to soften the impact on the businessmen in Central Business District I with the entry of Shoe Mart Mall next year.. Such rehabilitation works would be presented as one of the reasons for the city to enter into a loan package.
It is no wonder then that former Congressman Ramon H. Felipe Jr. came out last week with a whole page position paper opposing the proposed 2008 schedule of fair market values of all real properties in Naga City. Another wonder-boy economist, Camarines Sur Governor LRay Villafuerte, would not even give a thought to the prospects of raising the fair market values of real properties in the province to fatten the coffers of the Capitol.
It cannot be avoided, however, that the issue on the unfinished Naga City Coliseum and the increase in the fair market value for real properties are inherently related, just as a bukol with its pain.
For any increase in the fair market value of real properties means an increase in taxes, which is what the City Mayor needs to have the new loans applied for by the City earn the approval of lending banks. And to be able to enter into a loan, the Mayor needs an authorization from the Sanggunian. All these give the impression that a collusion between the Mayor and the Sanggunian Panlungsod in approving big money matters such as loans worth millions is in the offing, should citizens in this City not take the issue seriously and heatedly. This would result in a legislative dictatorship compelling the people in this city and all those who are still to be born to families in this city to pay for loans that are questionable as to their public purpose.
Such a collusion is likely to come about since the City Mayor and the members of the Sanggunian Panlungsod belong to what has been labeled as “ubos kun ubos, gabos kun gabos”, the political party that can best run the city government. Uuboson kita gabos, pati mga omboy asin mga dae pa namomondag na mga aki na magbayad nin makahangog na buis.
From another angle, the City Mayor may not be admitting it in public, but most likely he is making ready the Naga City Colosseum to provide his administration a transfer site for the city’s offices should the civil case on collection of rentals demanded by the heirs of the late Don Macario Mariano on the city finally be decided upon by the High Court. Any day now the High Court may issue a decision upholding the decision of the regional trial court here which favored the petition of the Marianos.
There are many issues that are confronting the much-awarded City Mayor in the country. Understandable is his desire that when he finishes his term in 2010 his administration would be unscathed and unwounded, and would go down in the annals of the city as one without any bukol.
But the odds are, the bukol is there to stay with him even beyond 2010.
