The Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Real Estate Builders Association-Negros Occidental Chapter are vehemently objecting to the alleged proposed ordinance of Councilor Jose Carlos Lopez converting the Bacolod City Public Plaza into an economic enterprise.

However, Lopez, chairman of the Sangguniang Panglungsod Committee on Trade and Commerce, yesterday denied that he is proposing to convert the City’s Public Plaza into a commercial space for rent.

Lopez said the ordinance being proposed is to beautify the public plaza and put up commercial spaces outside it, not to totally convert it into a business area.

He said the conversion of the Public Plaza into an economic enterprise is still a proposal and a Philippine Economic Zone Authority representative is arriving Monday in Bacolod to assess how to improve the Public Plaza.

In a letter they sent to Lopez yesterday, MBCCI president Frank Carbon stressed that the Plaza, or Park is for rest, recreation and other activities, that promote tourism in the City, and should be beyond the commerce of man and should never be converted into a commercial space for rent, malls or market place.

He said that doing so negates the purpose of which the plaza was constructed as mandated by the Local Government Code and at the same time is a big insult to the sensitiveness of Negrenses.*APN

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