THE city council has just been halted in its tracks on its plan to convert the third floor of the newly-built Malimgas Public Market as a large Information Communications Technology Center (ICT).

Councilors warned that the city government must first determine whether the market’s third floor, which was originally intended as a pay parking area, was leased to a private contractor to avoid legal complications.

Councilor Jesus Canto said members of the city council could find themselves facing a suit if they convert the place into an ICT center without verifying whether the past city administration leased this to a pay parking contractor.

When he took over the reins of the city, Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr. closed the pay parking area after noting that the city was getting no share from parking fees being collected daily by certain unidentified individuals.

City Legal Officer George Mejia confirmed that there was no document left by the past city administration concerning the pay parking area at the market’s third floor.

“If we want the truth, my personal advice to this honorable body is to invite the former mayor (Benjamin Lim) to shed light on whether he signed a contract for the pay parking area,” Mejia said.

Napoleon Nazareno, former Malimgas Public Market administrator, attested that there was somebody collecting pay parking fees in the area since 2005 when the market became operational but could not identify who this was.

Nazareno was questioned by Councilors Jose Netu Tamayo, Danilo Torio and Canto to shed light on the name of the pay parking contractor who was collecting parking fees at the third floor of the market.

He could not say any but admitted that he kept a record of how many vehicles were parking at the site each day since the pay parking area was in operation.

City Treasurer Romelita Alcantara told the city council earlier that not a single cent from pay parking fees was ever remitted to the city coffer since the start. (PNA)