The Commission on Audit has yet to respond to the latest motion of the Negros Occidental provincial government for it to issue a ruling on its deed of conditional sale of 36,587 square meters near the Capitol in Bacolod City to AyalaLand Inc. for P750,033,500, Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. said yesterday.

“We have not heard from the COA yet but Ayala is already preparing its plans and engineering studies on the development of the area,” he said.

The provincial government is going ahead with the lease of 40,481 square meters of the adjacent property, which does not require Commission on Audit approval, to ALI that will enable the province to earn P2.75 billion in 50 years, Assistant Provincial Legal Officer Mary Ann Manayon-Lamis said earlier.

PLANE ON HOLD

Meanwhile, the governor said he is still weighing the pros and cons of the proposal for the provincial government to buy a small airplane.

Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez, a pilot, proposed that the provincial government acquire a light plane to be used for aerial surveys, cloud-seeding operations, and evacuation during emergency situations.

“It’s not a luxury, it is a necessity,” Marañon said earlier.

But yesterday, he said, he was still thinking about it, noting that the move could be criticized by the media.*CPG

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