TRUE TO HIS CAUSE, City Councilor Alexander Lim made the inquiry on alleged anomalies of the city square contract his top agenda as the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) opened its sessions Friday. Councilor Lim, co-complainant and counsel of the class suit filed against former city mayor Dan Lim and the private investors of the Tagbilaran City Square who entered into a 25-year rehabilitate-operate-transfer (ROT) deal, has filed a resolution requesting newly-installed City Mayor John Geesnell Yap to create a special committee and audit team to look into transactions of the prime commercial complex since it opened in 2009 and examine the details of the contract. Lim, who made his mark as a veteran trial lawyer and courtroom litigator, vowed to pursue investigations into the City Square even as one of its private investors have indicated to the new city mayor his intent to divulge all its business dealings, especially concerning the past administration.

As Chairman of the SP Committee on Public Accountability and Investigations, Lim said it is his duty to “satisfy the public’s demand for transparency and accountability on all transactions involving the city government and the private investors of the City Square”. “The new and present administration has promised transparent, accountable and efficient governance. We must deliver on that promise and during this period of transition from the past to the present administration, the details of the contract (City Square) must be publicly revealed as well as the annual payments made by the investor to the city,” Lim said. In his resolution, Lim stated that the past administration failed to declare in its financial reports the annual rentals made by the City Square management which at one point prompted the Commission on Audit (COA) to include the matter in its annual audit findings for the city. “By initiative of the new and present administration, the public may have the opportunity to prove or disprove allegations of shady transactions or irregularities surrounding the ROT contract,” Lim added.

The city lawmaker explained that state auditors (COA) have inherent limitations in performing financial examination and management audits on the part of private contractors who are now operating the City Square, this being a private entity. “It is within the authority of the City Government to demand full disclosure from the private management of the City Square as a party to a government-initiated and government-granted Contract,” Lim’s resolution stated. According to Lim, applicable provisions of Republic Act No. 7160, the New Local Government Code; Republic Act 9184, the Government Procurement Reform Act as well as pertinent circulars of the COA based on the Government Contract Manual can be used as guiding principles in the conduct of an impartial audit by independent auditors which the city can hire. He added that the piece of land where the Tagbilaran City Square is situated and will be operating for a period of 25-years is one of the most valuable real estate properties of the City of Tagbilaran and as such, the responsibility to safeguard property and public funds from wastage is an inherent duty of the members of the SP. Councilor Lim’s resolution asked that findings of the special committee and audit team tasked by the city mayor should submit their findings to the SP in order for the lawmaking body to initiate its own investigation on the matter. The resolution is just one of several measures filed by Lim to look into supposed irregular transactions of the past administration.