‘Scam,’ says Ocon of Oro contracts with See firm

By NITZ ARANCON
and LITO RULONA
Correspondents

COUNCILOR Zaldy Ocon has called city hall’s P250-million build-operate-transfer deal with Mega Integrated Agro-Livestocks Farm Corp. (Mega Farm) a “scam” even as he called for a no-nonsense investigation into the 2009 agreement.

Ocon said another deal between city hall and the See family-owned company for the operation of the city slaughterhouse years ago was also questionable.

He said city hall should start a through investigation into the contracts so that those responsible for the deals can be brought to court and punished.

“They should be punished  within the ambit of the law,” Ocon said.

Councilor Enrico Salcedo said the 25-year BOT contract for the redevelopment of the 2.5-hectare Agora complex and operation of the market and terminals resulted in a significant drop in the local government income.

Salcedo said the Agora deal was approved during the administration of the then mayor Vicente Emano. He said that during the administration of the then mayor Constantino Jaraula, city hall moved the teminal for public jeepneys coming from and bound to eastern areas from Gusa to Lapasan.

Salcedo said city hall was earning from Gusa  terminal fees.

“Sa diha pa ang ‘west-bound’ jeepney terminal sa Gusa, intero income pa-ingon gyud sa syudad. Kining diha karon sa Agora, ang income sa terminal gikuha-an na ug share ngadto ni Mr. See Hong or Erwin Bryan See,” Salcedo said.

Hong is the patriarch of the See family behind the Ororama chain of department stores and Mega Farm while Erwin Bryan is his son.

Councilor Edna Dahino joined those who sought a review of the contracts particularly the provisions on how much city hall collects from Mega Farm.

For the slaughterhouse alone, Dahino said, the company has been paying city hall only between 25 to 50 centavos per kilogram of meat.

“I think we should really review that because 25 centavos is really very cheaps. That’s the rate 25 years ago,” Dahino said. “Alkanse kaayo ang syudad.”

Councilor Ian Mark Nacaya said there has been no significant increase in Mega Farm’s payments to the city since 2014. That year, he said, the company paid city hall P1.7 million. It paid P1.8 million in 2015 and the same amount in 2016.

“Kung sa binugoy pa nga pag-estorya, siyaro ba sad, bibo na man kaayo ang Cagayan de Oro karon, daghan na man kaayo magpa-karkas sa atong facility,” Nacaya said.

He pointed out that the city slaughterhouse is a monopoly because of a city ordinance that prohibits animal slaughter for commerce outside the facility. He said the ordinance is aimed at ensuring that all meat are inspected for the protection of consumers.