• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Church and civil society groups are demanding “full transparency, public accountability, and special COA audit” on various projects, multi-billion-peso loans, and other obligations of the city government.
In an undated open letter posted on the Facebook page of Caritas Bacolod Social Action Foundation Nov. 6, the groups said as “deeply concerned taxpayers and residents, who care for the welfare of the City and its inhabitants…we stand together in deep alarm over the staggering financial obligations tied to our city’s finances across successive administrations.”
“As the ones paying for every single centavo spent for government projects, we demand full transparency, the highest standards of integrity, and accountability when warranted,” the signatories, including Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of REpower Negros, former Negros Occidental governor Rafael Coscolluela – founding president of Paghimud-os Negros, and Fr. Julius Espinosa, director of Caritas Bacolod, stressed. “Government must balance its appetite for high-impact initiatives against the needs of the neediest.”
They called for a COA special audit of all loan contracts, bank disbursements, interest schedules, construction timelines, and long-term General Fund commitments, including project delays and financial spillage, on various projects.
These include the P2.1 billion public-private partnership (PPP) agreement with High Data Infra Inc. for the Bacolod Super City Project in March 2025; bank loans in 2019 for several multi-million-peso projects, including the still to be completed Bacolod MassKara Coliseum and Museum, P800 million; and projects under the 2023 loan framework with the Development Bank of the Philippines, both completed and ongoing, including the much-talked Legislative Building.
“When billions are poured into public works and burdensome long-term contracts, it is the low-income families, informal settlers, public transport drivers, vendors, and small business owners, who end up squeezed. Future generations who had no voice in these deliberations will bear the weight of debt servicing that swallows up a massive chunk of City revenues and essential funds for public health, education, flood control, other basic services, and vital development programs,” the open letter, addressed to Bacolod city officials, stressed.
The groups called for the immediate release of all signed loan contracts, repayment matrices, bank covenants, and long-term service agreements online…and a freeze on all further loan disbursements, pending completion of COA audits and reevaluation of unimplemented projects.
Councilors Jude Thaddeus Sayson, Caesar Distrito, and Al Victor Espino, chairpersons of the Sangguniang Panlungsod committees on Appropriations and Finance, on Government Assets, and on Laws, Ordinances and Good Government, respectively, said in a press release Nov. 4 that COA has already examined the city’s loan accounts, including the Legislative Building project, per its 2025 audit report submitted to the SP last May.
“The 2025 COA Report is a clear documentary proof that the city’s loan accounts are being examined. Another annual audit is expected in January 2027, covering the 2026 transactions. COA has the authority to examine all city disbursements, including those involving loan-funded projects,” Sayson had said after the SP voted against the proposed resolution of Councilor Homer Bais seeking a COA probe into the delayed legislative building project. | CGC
