The construction of the 24-classroom building at the Negros Occidental High School, that is being funded by the provincial government, has been stopped temporarily by its contractor, due to the non-release of P40 million from the Philippine National Bank loan of the province, Provincial Administrator Enrique Pinongan said yesterday.

While they have already complied with the requirements of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Monetary Board, the PNB has not yet released a single centavo of its loan, in the absence of a go signal from the monetary board, Pinongan said.

The contractor stopped the construction because they have not received even their mobilization fee, he added.

On top of the 24 classrooms, Pinongan said the principal and teachers of NOHS also asked for additional classrooms, to replace the Paglaum stadium bleachers that they have been using to hold classes, but will soon have to vacate for its development.

This prompted Gov. Alfredo Marañon to propose an additional P10 million for the construction of more classrooms, to be included in the P240 million he had requested to be approved by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.

Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez Jr., however, had questioned the allocation of P50 million for the three-storey PAC annex building, and the P10-million additional classrooms at the NOHS annex building.

Instead of constructing the PAC annex building, Alvarez suggested the utilization of empty spaces on the upper floors of the Philippine National Bank building at Lacson Street in Bacolod City, which stands on Capitol property.

Pinongan, however, they will have to negotiate with the management of PNB, to do that.

The building of the Provincial Environment and Management Office and two other Capitol departments are located on the 40,481 square-meter lot, that is included in the lease contract with Ayala Land Inc.

Pinongan said P50 million is a big savings for the provincial government.

Alvarez said he suggested that the P60 million be equally distributed to the six districts of Negros Occidental for road-concreting projects.

He, however, added that the decision to approve lies with the majority of the members of the provincial council, along with the release of P170 million for phase two of the Negros First Cyber Center.

The request of Marañon for a resolution authorizing him to negotiate for the release of P240 million from the Capitol’s standby loan with the Land Bank of the Philippines, remains at the committee level of the Negros Occidental Sangguniang Panlalawigan, until now.

Pinongan said there is no problem with the implementation of phase one of the Negros First Cyber Center, amounting to P450 million. He, however, said the approval of an additional P170 million budget for its phase 2 construction, is what is being deliberated on by the SP.

He said there are 23 applicants who want to lease the ground floor of the Negros First Cyber Center building, and the proposed businesses include convenience and grocery stores, a travel agency, beauty salon and coffee shops, furniture and appliance showrooms, bank, among others.

It has been noted that, before the recent political developments, the SP had approved the requests of Marañon without any hesitation.

Asked about this, Alvarez only said “Wala ko kabalo (Ihave no idea).”*GPB

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