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Bacolod City, PhilippinesFriday, October 5, 2012
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Editorial

When the COA acted

Daily Star logo
Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.
NINFA R. LEONARDIA
Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ
Editor

CHERYL CRUZ
Desk Editor
PATRICK PANGILINAN
Busines Editor

NIDA A. BUENAFE

Sports Editor
RENE GENOVE
Bureau Chief, Dumaguete
MAJA P. DELY
Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA
Administrative Officer

The release, at last, by the Commission on Audit of its decision on the sale and lease by the Negros Occidental Government of its property to the well-known developer AyalaLand, Inc. comes as a bittersweet conclusion to the lingering angst of Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr., the officials and residents of the province, as well as those of Bacolod City.

Yesterday, local media were furnished copies of the COA decision where it declare as legal and above-board, the actions of the provincial government insofar as the transactions on the properties were concerned. But the decision was released a little too late, and at great disappointment and cost to the province. This because, the purchaser, ALI, had already given up its offer, after patiently waiting for more than a year, while the COA sat on the request for approval, and would not even disclose whether or not, the project had a chance.

Now the province as well as the city of Bacolod are feeling bereft, after having envisioned what an improvement on its skyline the project would have wrought. Of course there will be other offers, but the time and opportunity lost in this one are irretrievable.

The province, and the city as well, had been following up the progress of this case. Two business giants, AyalaLand Inc. and SM Prime Holdings, Inc. both entered bids to purchase a part and lease another area of the capitol-owned property, presenting plans for its development. As required by our laws, a bidding was held, which was unsuccessful, as both offers, fell below the set floor price of the property. So the capitol scheduled another bidding, which SM did not participate in, claiming it had won the previous one. Since ALI turned out to be the only bidder, it was awarded the right to purchase and lease.

SM questioned the awarding and filed a case in court against it. The province submitted the documents on the transaction to the COA for approval, but the agency ignored or neglected to act on it for more than a year. In the meantime, suspicions and confirmations cropped up, tending to show there were other considerations causing the delay in action from that office.

After a lot of hue and cry from both officials and residents, COA finally released its decision this week. Will it give an explanation as to why, such a simple case of determining the property of a government sale should take almost 15 months to be made?*

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