Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera is pushing for a comprehensive review of the city government’s joint venture agreements with private companies to determine whether the partnerships deliver fair returns to taxpayers and comply with development commitments.
During the City Council session on Tuesday, Oct. 27, Garganera called for an assessment of existing agreements, including their revenue-sharing arrangements, development timelines and compliance requirements.
He said the city needed to establish whether its private-sector partners were fulfilling their obligations and whether the agreements continued to serve the interests of Cebu City residents.
One of the agreements he wants reviewed covers 40 hectares of the South Road Properties (SRP) under a joint venture with Filinvest Land Inc., signed in 2009.
Under the agreement, the city’s share is computed using a land valuation of P8,000 per square meter or the selling price of the units, whichever is higher, Garganera said.
He questioned whether the valuation arrangement remained appropriate given changes in property values over the years.
Garganera cited a P300,000-per-square-meter figure that Vice Mayor Tomas Osmeña mentioned during a council discussion on the proposed rerouting of the bus rapid transit system through the SRP. The figure, however, has not been independently established as the market value of the entire joint venture property.
The councilor said the city collected approximately P2.47 billion from the Filinvest agreement from its inception through May 2024.
Despite the collections, he questioned the pace of development, saying large portions of the property remained idle after about 15 years.
He also said the SRP Management Office had confirmed in writing that it did not have a certified copy of Filinvest’s master development plan for the joint venture area.
Garganera further raised questions about the city’s revenue entitlement after the agreement’s 20-year term expires.
He said he wrote to Filinvest on May 28, 2026, seeking clarification on whether the city would continue receiving its share of revenues beyond the contract period.
According to Garganera, the company initially replied on June 22 that the city would continue receiving its share. However, it withdrew the letter two days later, explaining that the response had not undergone the required internal corporate approval process.
Garganera said he welcomed a meeting with the company, but no schedule had been set.
He also questioned a request in the company’s correspondence for the city to use part of the remittances it had received to finance drainage infrastructure that would benefit the joint venture property. He said the request should be examined alongside the agreement’s other terms.
The proposed review would also cover other private-sector partnerships.
Garganera said the City Treasurer’s Office sent financial queries to Universal Hotels and Resorts Inc. on Aug. 11 and Oct. 1, 2026, regarding obligations under its agreement with the city. He said the company had yet to respond as of his speech.
He also cited the ongoing process to explore terminating the city’s joint venture agreement with Pilipinas Water Resources Inc.
To advance the review, Garganera asked the City Council to invite Filinvest representatives, the SRP Management Office and the City Treasurer’s Office to an executive session to discuss the agreement’s implementation, development plans and revenue-sharing arrangements.
He also proposed asking the mayor’s office to convene the Joint Venture Selection Committee to assess all existing agreements, including their financial terms, development schedules and compliance requirements.
Under his proposal, the City Treasurer’s Office would submit a comprehensive report detailing revenues collected, payments due, outstanding obligations and other financial concerns involving the city’s joint venture partners.
The proposed measures aim to determine whether Cebu City is receiving appropriate financial and development benefits from public properties committed to private-sector projects.
📷 Joel Garganera / Facebook
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