• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Manokan Country tenants to be affected by the lease agreement between the Bacolod City government and SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SMPHI) can continue their operations, with free rent, while construction of the improved facility is ongoing.
The tenants will only pay for utilities while in the relocation site, also near the current Manokan, as SMPHI executives assured them during the public hearing Oct. 10 that no rentals will be collected from them for one year and a half.
SMPHI vice president for Asset Management, Gusi Balatbat, said they are eyeing the transfer of the Manokan tenants to the temporary area by end of first quarter next year.
Atty. Helene Go, VP for Legal Affairs, also of SMPHI, assured the tenants that their business operations will not be interrupted. “Hindi kayo aalisin sa current Manokan hangga’t hindi tapos ang temporary relocation site.”
Councilor Celia Matea Flor, chairperson of the Sangguniang Panlungsod Committee on Markets, who conducted the public hearing jointly with the SP Committee on Laws, Ordinances and Good Government, headed by Councilor Al Victor Espino at the Bacolod Government Center, urged Manokan tenants, particularly those with arrears, to make use of the 18 months that they are free from paying rents, to settle their obligations with the City.
You have one year and a half to pay your arrears, Flor told the tenants, most of them also under compromise agreements with the City to settle their debts of several years. “Maayo nga updated para indi ta mahuya mag-recommend sa inyo sa SM.”
Under the proposed Terms of Reference, the winning bidder “shall prioritize the offering of leasable spaces within the lease structures to current tenants of the Manokan Country selected and approved by the City, duly registered with the City, without prejudice to the winning bidder’s prerogative to negotiate the pre-termination of such leases in accordance with the provision of the existing lease agreements”.
The new Manokan will have 24 stalls, at 50 square meters each.
Flor said tenants are assured of bigger income in the improved Manokan, with not less than 10,000 customers expected, mostly students and call center employees, with the opening of a Business Process Outsourcing facility and a school, also at SM.
The SMPHI is offering to pay the City advance rentals of P131.89 million on the date of the signing of the lease agreement, “which is approximately the present value of seven years’ rental”.
It also agrees to pay the City a monthly rental fee equivalent to P1.77 million, for the leased premises, or a minimum of P21.26 million per annum, “exclusive of the value-added tax, subject to an escalation rate of five percent every three years beginning on the fourth year of the lease.
Under the proposal, the SMPHI’s minimum cost of investment in the leased premises is P3 billion. “The term of the lease shall be for 40 years, from the start of the commercial operations of the lease structures…which shall be automatically renewed for another 10 years, provided the lessee does not commit a substantial breach of its obligations…”
The proposed lease and development will involve an aggregate area of about 16,875 square meters, where the Manokan Country, Vendors’ Plaza, BAYS Center, and other city structures at Fr. M. Ferrero Street, are located.
Espino said the sanggunian is expected to adopt today, Oct. 11, the joint committee report on the public hearing conducted, and will then authorize Mayor Alfredo Benitez to sign the lease agreement with SMPHI president Jeffrey Lim.
Balatbat said they expect the lease agreement to be signed later this month, adding the handover/opening of the new Manokan Country is targeted in October 2025. | CGC
