MARKET DEV’T TALKS FAVORABLE TO BAGUIO CITY – MAGALONG

Mayor Benjamin Magalong reported this week that the ongoing city market development negotiations have reached far and is becoming favorable to the city and its people.
In a press conference last Thursday, Dec. 16, Magalong said proponent SM Prime Holdings, holder of the original proponent status, has agreed to make the city public market development a “legacy project” as a way of giving back to the community of Baguio.
“They heeded our call.
Nag-usap ‘yung family and they decided to make it a legacy project. Very minimal na ‘yung mall. Ang ganda nung project.
So it is very favorable for Baguio,” Magalong said during the regular Ugnayan with the press. It can be recalled that the Baguio mayor appealed to SM to prove to the people of Baguio its commitment by leaving a legacy and to erase the perception that is the favored entity in the market modernization.
Magalong said instead of the previous 70 percent space of the project going to the mall and 30 percent for market space, the proponent agreed to allot the larger 70 percent for the market and 30 percent for the mall.
“When I asked them how will they recoup their investment, for the meantime hindi na muna nila iniisip paano i-recover ‘yung investment. They want it to become a legacy project for them to be able to prove to the people of Baguio they want to give back,” he said.
Magalong further reiterated that the city is very transparent and is here to protect the interest of those who are presently occupying the stalls, and not those who are sub-leasing and profiting from the market.
He again chided those in the market who rent stalls from the city government for P400 to P600 per stall and then sublease it for P6,000, and some renting for P5,000 to P6,000 and subleasing it for a whopping P60,000 a month.
“Is that fair, tama ba ‘yon, na pinagkakakitaan mo ang gobyerno? It’s amazing na may mga taong pinagkakakitaan ang market at sila pa ang nagsisinungaling about the market development,” Magalong said.
He added there are those who are spreading lies and false information about the market development to discourage support to the market development, such as that whoever will win the project will be the one to manage the city market. “It’s totally false. Kasinungalingan ‘yan.
The city market will be managed by the city government and eventually owned by the city government.”

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