BY ROGER M. BALANZA
Foul language may have already drowned to death the proposed P39-Billion 200-hectare Davao Reclamation Project.
I do not expect Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio to change her mind with the harsh language used by the proponent in responding to the mayor’s termination of the project, Davao City Council majority floor leader Bernie Al-ag said.
Duterte-Carpio last week announced she has terminated the Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) between the Davao City government and Mega Harbour involving reclamation of more than 200 hectares of the city’s coastline to be developed into an industrial, commercial and ports complex.
Mega Harbour responded to the termination with a letter in harsh language that raised the hackles of Duterte-Carpio.
For calling her “reckless, callous, and unethical,” Duterte-Carpio stood pat on her decision to cancel the JVA. She also demanded an apology from the company.
Duterte-Carpio unleashed her displeasure in a letter-response to Mega Harbour president Engineer Victor Songco.
“ What I did not expect from you is to call me out as a reckless, callous and unethical individual. You should be the last person to speak about ethics if you write letters such as the one I received,” Duterte-Carpio said in the letter to Songco.
You do not have the right to tell me how and when I should do my job. I demand an apology, said the mayor in the strongly-worded letter.
Duterte-Carpio earlier said that the Davao City government is ready to face any legal case that Mega Harbour may bring up in court in relation to her termination of the JVA.
The JVA was first approved by the 17th Davao City Council and then by then sitting Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, now President Duterte, in early 2016.
Guesting at the Radyo Ukay morning program of broadcaster Roy Geonzon on Saturday, Al-ag said that with the mayor’s frayed nerves against Mega Harbour, he did not expect Duterte-Carpio to make a turn-around on her decision.
Al-ag said he himself found Songco’s letter harsh on the mayor.
The majority floor leader, among members of the 17th City Council which approved the proposed project, said Mega Harbour, by being harsh on the mayor, lost a chance to redeem the multi-billion peso project.
He bared that the JVA has a 60-day “mediation clause” that allowed the two signing parties to discuss “conflicts” that may arise from the deal before its implementation.
Al-ag said that instead of responding with harsh language to the termination, Mega Harbour, citing the “medication clause” of the JVA, should have sought a meeting with Duterte-Carpio to present its case.
Al-ag said members of the current 18th City Council have yet to discuss the mayor’s decision to terminate the JVA. He said he personally respects the decision of the mayor.
“When we approved it, we saw that the project was good for the city,” he said.
Duterte-Carpio said she found flaws in the JVA related to social and environmental factors, and defended her action to terminate the JVA as “good for the city.”
Maybe she saw things in the contract that we in the city council did not see, said Al-ag. He said he is looking at city councilors and the mayor in a meeting to discuss the scuttled project.
No matter what, and even with Mega Harbour hinting it may file a case to contest Duterte-Carpio’s decision, Al-ag said he sees the project as doomed with the mayor holding the ace in her hands.
Although the JVA had been approved by then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and the 17th City Council, the project cannot be implemented without a “Notice to Proceed” from Mayor Duterte-Carpio, said Al-ag.
BY ROGER M. BALANZA
The company behind the scuttled proposed P39-Billion Davao Reclamation and Ports Development Project has hinted it would sue Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.
Duterte-Carpio said the Davao City government will no longer pursue its Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) with the Manila-based Mega Harbour over the project.
The Davao Coastline and Port Development Project was to carve out over 200 hectares of coastline area to be developed into a commercial and industrial complex.
Approved in 2016 by then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, now President, and the Davao City Council, the local government and Mega Harbour would share revenue from the reclaimed land.
“We cannot stand by this. We are deeply concerned, even seriously alarmed (by your decision),” said Mega Harbour president Engineer Victor Songco in his letter dated July 27 to Duterte-Carpio.
Duterte-Carpio earlier said the city government is ready for any legal action that Mega Harbour may bring up due to the termination of the JVA.
Songco said the company received a letter dated July 19, from Duterte-Carpio informing about her “final decision not to further proceed with the project.”
In a press stament last week after Duterte-Carpio announced that she was terminating the JVA, Mega Harbour said it was shocked by the Mayor’s “unilateral and arbitrary” decision.
Mega Harbour described the “unilateral and premature” termination as “flimsy.”
The basis for Duterte-Carpio’s decision in terminating the JVA (is) a “mere product of a fertile imagination,” said the company.
Mega Harbour said it did not expect the mayor’s decision.
“We never saw it coming. All the while we thought that we were all on the same page in trying to improve the lives of the marginalized in those 10 coastal barangays – involving some 4,000 families,” the statement stated.
The reclamation project, stretching from Agdao district in the northern coastline of the city to the mouth of Davao River in the south, would run through thickly populated urban poor areas.
Mega Harbour said it has the “efforts and resources towards improving lives of the marginalized community, tapping every sector in our network, always highly spirited in our drive to exceed expectations in complying with each and every term of the duly-approved agreement.”
”Our vision is clear, fully supported by all the geological, economic, financial and other related studies one can think of in preparing the groundwork for a project of that scale,” Mega Harbour said in the statement .
“The inspiration comes from what we are certain (that) the project will ultimately provide, not only to those 4,000 families but to all the Davao City residents and the rest of the Mindanaoans,” it said.
Mega Harbour said the project would generate “infrastructure, jobs, livelihood, trade, industries, investments, tourism, and many other socioeconomic benefits and opportunities — all at no cost to the city government neatly put together in one package as an end-to-end anti-poverty solution and a historic model of public-private partnership.”
Mega Harbour said it has submitted requirements demanded by the local government.
All the study and preliminary analyses of the areas covered by the project (were) presented and accepted by then-Mayor now President Rodrigo Duterte, Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte, and the Sangguniang Panlungsod, the company said in the statement.
Mega Harbour also said it has submitted the Environmental Impact Studies to the DENR for issuance of an Environmental Compliance Certificate ( ECC).
”Therefore, there should be no issue on the environmental compliance since it is now for approval of the DENR,” it said.
Duterte-Carpio said the project’s potential negative impact on the environment is among her reasons for terminating the agreement.
Demands an apology
BY ROGER M. BALANZA
For calling her “reckless, callous, and unethical,” Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio is demanding an apology from the company behind a scuttled proposed P39-Billion reclamation project.
An official of Mega Harbour and Port Development Corporation dished out disparaging remarks in a letter to Duterte-Carpio after she decided that the Davao City government will no longer pursue its Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) with the Manila-based company.
Duterte-Carpio said she reached the decision after more than a year of study and review of the Mega Harbour project and its legal, social and environmental implications.The Davao Coastline and Port Development Project was to carve out over 200 hectares of coastline area to be developed into a commercial and industrial complex.
Approved in 2016 by then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, now President, and the Davao City Council, the local government and Mega Harbour would share revenue from the reclaimed land.
Last week, Duterte-Carpio bared the bad news for Mega Harbour, saying she was terminating the JVA. She said Mega Harbour had been informed about her decision.
The company said the decision was unfair and hinted a law suit.
”What I did not expect from you is to call me out as a reckless, callous and unethical individual. You should be the last person to speak about ethics if you write letters such as the one I received,” Duterte-Carpio said in a letter in response to Songco.
You do not have the right to tell me how and when I should do my job. I demand an apology, said the mayor in the strongly-worded letter.
“It is utterly fiddling of you to threaten me with a law suit should I continue to fulfill my obligation to explain to the public why I terminated the agreement,” Duterte-Carpio said.
BY ROGER M. BALANZA
Citing its legal and social implications, and potential negative impact on the environment, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio has shot down a P39-Billion reclamation project that would develop over 200 hectares of the city’s coastal area into an industrial and commercial complex.
The Davao Coastline and Port Development Project was to be implemented under a Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) between the Davao City Government and proponent Mega Harbour Port and Development Incorporated.
“Our decision to terminate the joint venture agreement is coupled with a resolve that Davao City can really move forward and answer the call of economic growth by implementing highly sustainable projects, both commercially and environmentally,” Duterte-Carpio said in a statement issued on July 25.
She said the decision was based on a “careful review and study” that considered the project’s “commercial viability, legal and social implications, and possible effects to the environment.”
The mayor said Mega Harbour was formally informed about the termination of the JVA on July 19.
Duterte-Carpio said the city government is ready for any legal action that Mega Harbour may bring up due to the termination of the JVA.
The City Government-Mega Harbour deal is covered by approved legal instruments.
The JVA was was signed on June 21, 2016 by then Davao City Mayor, now President Rodrigo Duterte, and Mega Harbour chairman Reghis Romero II, after being approved by the Davao City Council.
Duterte-Carpio is standing by the decision to terminate the JVA despite loss of potential economic benefits from the reclamation deal considered to be one of the biggest single investment by a company.
“I assure you, all Dabawenyos, that in coming up with this decision, the paramount consideration has been your welfare and the future of Davao City,” Duterte-Carpio said in the statement addressed to her constituents.
The Mega Harbour was to reclaim more than 200 hectares of the coastline from Agdao District up to the mounth of the Davao River in Bucana, to be developed into a complex that includes a commercial and industrial park, a tourism hub and international standard port and shipping container facilities.
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