• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Manokan Country tenants have asked the Bacolod City government to allow them to be permanently relocated to the Vendors’ Plaza Market amid the planned upgrade of their stalls as per the lease agreement between the City and SM Prime Holdings Inc.
In a letter to Mayor Alfredo Benitez signed by 22 tenants, they said that “moving Manokan Country under a private establishment is like moving the Bacolod Public Plaza to some other place…”
The tenants said the proposed temporary relocation at the North Terminal Hub with a 12 square-meter area per stall, and even the 50 to 60 sq. m. space in the permanent relocation site “does not meet our needs for a convenient and productive operation.”
“Moreover, the food court setup doesn’t give us exclusivity for our regular customers, specially, those who would usually book us for events,” they pointed out in their letter that Benitez had endorsed to the Sangguniang Panlungsod recently.
Should Manokan Country be placed under SM with the proposed food court setup, this would mean that manpower would be limited, and could result in the displacement of employees, the tenants said, adding that flexible time is not possible under the private management setup.
“Manokan Country has been very flexible in our operating hours. Most tourists would order chicken inasal as early as 4 a.m. before their flight as ‘pasalubong’ for their families, or at around 11 p.m. when they arrive in Bacolod to also dine with their families and friends. We, as tenants, gladly accommodate this market, that longed for authentic chicken inasal,” they added.
They said in their letter to Benitez that in honor of their parents and grandparents, especially the pioneers of chicken inasal, who paved the way for Manokan Country, and helped families through employment, “we are appealing to your good administration to hear us and be with us in preserving what our founders have worked hard decades ago, preserve Manokan Country as one entity under the LGU and not under a private management”.
SM Prime executives, in a public hearing Oct. 10 with regard the 40-year lease agreement, assured tenants that they can continue their operations, with free rent at the North Terminal Hub, while construction of the improved facility is ongoing.
SMPHI vice president for Asset Management, Gusi Balatbat, said no rentals will be collected from the tenants for one year and a half while they are at the temporary relocation site, adding their transfer is expected by end of first quarter next year.
The lease and development contract, signed Oct. 20, involves an aggregate area of about 16,875 square meters, where the Manokan Country and Vendors’ Plaza, as well as the BAYS Center and other city structures at Fr. M. Ferrero Street, are located. | CGC
