BAGUIO CITY – Former Mauricio G. Domogan underscored that there are evident legal infirmities in the proposed multi-billion market development project being initiated by the local government that is why it is impossible for the same to be implemented within the year as being promised.
Domogan, who is seeking the city’s mayoralty post in the upcoming May 9, 2022 synchronized national and local elections, pointed out that the foundation for the proposed market development project which is Ordinance No. 038, series of 1995 that prescribed the guidelines for the same still exists that is why whatever action of the local government on the matter should be aligned with the existing provisions of the said measure.
While it is true that the local government was able to put in place the Public-Private Partnership for the People ordinance that governs the implementation of the public-private partnership scheme, he claimed that the said general ordinance did not actually amend or repeal the specific ordinance that provided the guidelines on how to undertake the development of the city public market.
Further, he stated that there were also some legal lapses in the conduct of the selection process that could result to technicality that will surely delay the implementation of the desired development of the city public market once the same will be consummated when the council shall have confirmed the contract that will be entered by the local government and the developer that will be chosen from the ongoing selection process.
According to him, it will be unlikely for the proposed market development project to push through within the year because of the tedious process that is involved in the selection process which is still on the stage where the local government is trying to finalize the terms of reference of the project which will be the one that will be published and subjected to the prescribed Swiss Challenge.
Domogan emphasized that the constitutionality of Ordinance No. 038, series of 1995 had been upheld by the Supreme Court (SC) that is why it is still the primary basis for the city to pursue the market development project and not to use other existing measures just to get away with what had been ruled upon by the highest court of the land.
On the other hand, he explained that in the case of Uniwide which had been subjected to receivership by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the motion for the issuance of the writ of execution for the same is still pending in court, thus, whatever actions that are being undertaken by the local government might be in gross violation of the same.
The former local chief executive warned that whatever lapses that will be committed in the implementation of the market development project will surely be questioned by the concerned sectors that will cause a serious delay in the desired realization of the project that could drag on for more than a decade similar to what happened in the Uniwide case, thus, the need for the city to be circumspect on how to proceed with the project that will satisfy the interest of all parties and the public on the matter.
