BAGUIO CITY – The management of Uniwide Sales Realty and Resources Corporation informed the city government that it is still interested to implement the long overdue development of the 3-hectare Baguio City public market through the original Design-Build-Lease (DBL) agreement but based on an updated building design, structure, engineering plan that will suit the needs of the people.
In their letter to Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan dated November 9, 2015, Jimmy N. Gow, Chairman, and lawyer Salvador B. Hababag, president, they requested the city government to give the corporation six months to one year upon the finality of the Supreme Court (SC) decision upholding the legality of the ordinance that prescribed the guidelines for the development of the market and the subsequent DBL agreement to pursue a new building design, structure, engineering plans that will suit the current trend of the times in putting up an 8-storey city public market.
“Our corporation is in a position to proceed with the project as interested business partners are coming in and ready to become partners to pursue the project to its final realization,” the letter stated.
As regards the allegation that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ordered the dissolution of all the companies in the group, the Uniwide officials claimed such report is not true as banks have been paid and the SEC order has already been challenged by the corporation before the Court of Appeals (CA).
The concerned Uniwide officials assured the city government that their company is very much willing and intends to proceed with the delayed project since the delays of the construction activities were beyond its control considering the series of law suits filed by the affected market vendors.
Uniwide plans to put up an 8-storey structure within the 3-hectare city market area to replace the old structures with a state-of-the-art commercial building with the first two floors to be directly managed by the city government where all the legitimate vendors will be accommodated while the rest of the floors will be managed by the company for it to recover its investment over a 30-year lease period as contained in the ordinance.
“We are awaiting for the finality of the Supreme Court decision and we shall act at once to pursue the Baguio City public market project,” the one-page letter added.
It can be recalled that the High Court dismissed the petitions filed by various associations of market vendors and concerned individual vendors questioning the ordinance that prescribed the rules and regulations for the market and its subsequent DBL agreement for their failure to present sufficient pieces of evidence that would warrant judicial intervention in the said case.
However, the embattled market vendors are still set to file their motion for reconsideration as a last ditch effort to continue delaying the implementation of the project for them to be able to continuously advance their personal interests over stalls that they are reportedly sub-leasing and occupied by members of a few market leaders trying to lord it over the operation of the market facility.
