John Hay developer gets final demand letter

Friday, May 13, 2011

THE Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) issued a final demand letter to the Camp John Hay Development Corporation, developer of Camp John Hay.

The BCDA team led by Dean Santiago, vice president for planning and business development, announced this in a close-door session with Baguio City officials Tuesday afternoon.

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The session was an offshoot of a previous appearance of BCDA officials at the City Council. That time, they asked the city to help them pressure John Hay Management Corporation (CJHDevCo) to pay its arrears.

Santiago declined to an interview after the meeting, but in a PowerPoint presentation obtained by Sun.Star, CJHDevCo was sent a demand letter last April 29 to pay P272,183,661.18.

CJHDevCo was also ordered to open the escrow account for security agreement. These have to done by the end of this month.

In case CJHDevCo fails, the BCDA will convene a joint committee on dispute settlement and if nothing is solved in 30 days, arbitration will follow.

On the part of the City Government, Mayor Mauricio Domogan said he asked the BCDA to submit an executive summary of the original lease agreement and the subsequent restructured lease agreements.

He also asked the BCDA the formula of how it is computing the city's shares.

"So our Local Finance Committee would also know how to compute our shares," Domogan said, echoing his statement during their meeting that city officials could not be blamed for criticizing both the BCDA and CJHDevCo, as city officials were not made privy to the restructured agreements.

Domogan, meanwhile, is hopeful the CJHDevCo will pay its arrears and the BCDA will fully operationalize its one stop processing center.

He said both offices raised valid points that need to be addressed to prevent an impasse.

"We hope CJHDevCo will pay by the end of this month," he said.