In his latest written inquiry, directly-elected lawmaker Ron Lam has slammed the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) for not proactively revealing its acquisition of the Chio Mansion.
Located on a narrow alley near the Senado Square, the mansion was earlier secretly purchased by the IC. The move was only discovered by the press when a parliamentary committee reviewing public spending discussed the purchase.
The committee, when studying the execution rate of the public Investment and Development Expenditure Plan (PIDDA) of the second and third quarters of the 2021 fiscal year, was told by the government that MOP8 million was spent to acquire real property on Travessa da Porta. The property is commonly known as the Chio Mansion.
The lack of disclosure of the purchase of the Chio Mansion to date was facilitated by the engagement of personal privacy protections, Leong Wai Man, president of the IC, said after being questioned about the mystery surrounding the move.
Leong added that premature revelation of the acquisition may trigger speculation about the property’s price.
Despite standing with the IC on its justification for prospective secrecy, Lam slammed the bureau for not releasing information on the purchase following the deal. Moreover, neither was the public made aware of the grounds for the acquisition, among other details of the operation.
Lam finds the fashion in which the IC handled the acquisition and the release of related information “difficult to accept, which also violated the principle of openness and transparency regularly emphasized by the government.”
The lawmaker was also not happy about the lack of transparency in the operation of the Cultural Heritage Committee which has never expressly mentioned the details of this acquisition.
He added that the committee has had diminishing level of transparency in its operation, from allowing the press to sit in on meetings without confidential information, to the latest phase of not notifying the press about the committee’s meeting taking place, despite press releases being disseminated afterwards.
As a result, Lam questioned the government about the procedures and mechanisms based on which the IC purchases constructions of historic value or utilizes its priority rights stipulated in the Cultural Heritage Law. He also wondered how the IC ensures the public interest is served in its decision to buy or not buy certain properties.
On the openness of the committee, Lam asked if the government has plans to reopen meetings to the public, unless topics of confidentiality are discussed. Moreover, he asked about the promulgation timetable of the Executive Regulation for the Protection and Management Plan for the Historic Centre of Macao.
