Unpaid dues
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THE RUMORS circulating around the city regarding the alleged failure of the operators of the Tagbilaran City Square to pay their dues to the city government are just that, rumors, and City Mayor Dan Neri Lim is not the least bothered by them.
“I would have wanted to talk about this issue head-on but I am bound by the fact that there is an on-going case,” Lim said.
The mayor, however, said there is nothing to worry about as far as the operation of the business venture and its dues to the city.
“If there is anybody who is concerned about it, that would be me,” he noted.
Lim said that if the issue remains unresolved, he will be liable for it not only because he is the city executive but also because his critics will surely pin him down.
The mayor said that while there are some things that need to be worked on, it is not a problem that should worry anybody.
“It is interesting to see how many experts there are now that the City Square is already operating and in business,” he noted.
Lim recalled that for 14 years, the unfinished Agora building was an eyesore that no government official dared to solve.
When he assumed as mayor, Lim dangled a proposal for interested parties to finish the project under the Build-Operate-Transfer Law.
His critics scoffed at the proposal which did not have any takers because it did not look like a profitable venture.
Lim, however, proved the skeptics wrong when he not only completed the project with the winning venture but made it an economic venture.
The mayor said, “suddenly everybody became an expert.”
“They came up with very expert computations, expert proposals and expert ideas on how to run the business – when it was already operational,” he added.
Lim said he is wondering where these so-called experts were when the unfinished Agora was an embarrassment to the city and its people.
The mayor gave an unsolicited advice to those circulating the rumors against City Square: solve your own problems first.
“Let me deal with this because this was my idea. Anyway, if you find anything irregular with it, you can always take legal action like the one you filed in court,” Lim noted.
The mayor also dismissed those who are merely out for political mileage and headlines.
“The time for grandstanding is past. Our people know who are working and who are only barking,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, Kag. Bebiano Inting told Cuentas Claras that when he checked the records, he found out that for the year 2010, the City Square operator paid only in January 2011.
Inting expressed surprise because under the contract, the payment was to be made every month.
He added that when he looked at the trial balance middle of 2011, he did not find any entry showing payment of income or rental from the operators of the City Square.
Efforts of Cuentas Claras anchors to solicit the views of the City Treasurer proved futile as nobody answered his cellphone.
