The contract to rehabilitate, operate and transfer entered into by the city to a private consortium to develop the Agora Square is a public document and founded on legal grounds. Mincing no words, Ko Beng Sum, one of the developers, said the consortium has nothing to hide “because the ROT contract is above board”. This was the categorical statement issued yesterday by Ko who is also the chief operations officer of the consortium which transformed the Agora public market into the Tagbilaran City Square. The private developer reacted sharply to allegations contained in the sworn letter complaint filed by lawyers Victor de la Serna, Alexander Lim and Zotico Ochavillo last week before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas. Ko was one of the respondents of the anti-graft complaint along with his partner Juan Apostol. City Mayor Dan Neri Lim was indicted after he entered into a contract with the developer on the strength of an authority granted by the city law-making body. For his part, Mayor Lim also reacted bluntly to the accusations of his sworn detractors. He said although he is yet to receive a copy of the complaint, Mayor Lim said the latest legal trouble he is facing is part of his critics' sinister plot to destroy his political career.

The city mayor also said the same Ombudsman case is calculated to gain media mileage for his political opponents even if the people of Tagbilaran knew pretty well that he was after their welfare when he allowed a consortium to convert an eyesore into a productive enterprise. Lim said he was practically absolved by the Tagbilaran electorate in the 2007 when won reelection .The Agora issue was raised during the campaign but Lim managed to convince the people making him victorious in his reelection bid. Other than charging the three respondents for violation of the anti-graft law, the three lawyers also requested the Ombudsman-Visayas for a cease and desist order. The second course of action (cease and desist order) was directed to the private developer since he has already been renting out the commercial spaces of the city square at P600.00/sq. meter.

The main contention of the three lawyers in filing the case was that the contract entered into by the city was manifestly and grossly disadvantageous to the city government. According to the complainants, Mayor Lim leased the public market to the developer identified as TBC Realty Development & Management Corp. for a measly amount of P31.00/sq.m. while the surrounding areas are renting at P120.00/sq.m. After rehabilitating the structure which for 14 years is standing idle and without any economic activity, the developers installed street lights surrounding the structure changing the city's skyline forever. By now, most of the ground floor spaces are occupied by tenants. But Ko Beng Sum, one of the partners in the Agora development explained that the ROT proposal made by the consortium was an earnest “offer to help” after being convinced of the sincerity of Mayor Lim to eliminate Agora as the biggest eye sore in the city and transform it into a main business hub in Tagbilaran. Time and again, Ko belied the figures used by de la Serna's group in claiming that the terms of the contract are disadvantageous to the city. Crying harassment Ko made it clear that with this kind of resistance coming from some sectors, the consortium, as it had been saying all along before, that it will not hesitate to ask the city government or any interested entity to take over the management of the newly-developed City Square as long as the consortium is reimbursed of its expenses.