Bidding for venue to house city govt offices set
The city government has set November 14, 2006 as the bidding date for the venue to house temporary offices while the Iloilo City Hall undergoes reconstruction.
Initially, two malls in the city offered vacant spaces to accommodate various city government offices.
Reportedly, Robinsons Place offered P185/square meter including the use of electricity and air conditioning unit while SM City offered P200/square meter.
However, the association of city hall employees signed a manifesto expressing their intentions to be relocated at the Robinsons Place because of its proximity to the downtown area and it is also near the Sangguniang Panlungsod which occupies the second level of the Iloilo Terminal Market.
The transfer of venue is being worked out by the city government as preparation for the construction of the seven-storey new city hall building in its old site in Plaza Libertad.
The construction of the city hall building will push through in spite of the reservations earlier made by Mayor Jerry Treñas on the possible cut of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) share of the city because of the impending approval of several capital towns into a city.
One of the collaterals presented by the city government in their application for a loan is the IRA share of the city government. The approval of the capital towns into cities will cut down the IRA share of the city by as much as P32 million.
Land Bank of the Philippines has already approved the application of the city's loan amounting to P350 million. Part of the payment for the P350 million will be taken from the city's IRA.
The Treñas administration is in a hurry to start the construction of the project because of the election banning period which starts March 2007. The banning period is in accordance with the Omnibus Election Code that prohibits the local officials from having new projects and even file cases against their fellow politicians.