Ayala officials meet guv,
Capitol to honor contract
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. yesterday said the Negros Occidental provincial government will honor its d eed of conditional sale and lease contract   with AyalaLand Inc. (ALI) covering its 7.7-hectare property at Gatuslao Street in Bacolod City that were signed in April last year.

The governor issued this assurance after ALI president and chief operating officer Antonino Aquino and senior vice president and VisMin Group head Emilio Tumbucon met with him Tuesday to convey their interest in pursuing the project.

“Ayala Land is open to proceed with discussions on the Bacolod Capitol project but remains concerned with its pending legal case as this will compromise its ability to obtain the necessary legal requirements to undertake the full development of the property,” ALI said in a statement sent to the DAILY STAR yesterday.

‘Bacolod gov't
financially stable'
BY CHRYSEE SAMILLANO

“Bacolod City is financially stable, its collection is very efficient and we are on the right track of collecting the estimated revenue for 2013.”

This was the assurance given by Bacolod City Treasurer Annabelle Badajos to the members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod yesterday during its regular session, where she was invited together with the City Accountant and acting Budget Officer to enlighten the city officials on the financial status of the city.

Badajos said “I am quite optimistic that we will have an excess of under estimated income towards the end of the year that can be used for supplemental budgets if ever the new administration would like to avail of it.”

Capitol has P1.6
billion in deposits
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

The P180 million additional loan for Negros First CyberCentre being requested for approval by Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. from the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Negros Occidental, and the P1.6 billion in bank balances, will be taken up at a joint committee hearing of the Finance and Infrastructure committees next week.

Vice Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson who had been furnished with copies of the summary of bank balances of the provincial government by the Acting Provincial Accountant Carolina Isuga, said he wants to ask questions from her.

If indeed it has already been allocated to certain projects or items, probably there are still some unrestricted funds, that, hopefully, the provincial accountant can tell us,” Lacson said.