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Sunday, August 27, 2006
City mulls court action to collect John Hay rental share
THERE is a need for the Baguio City Government to take proper court action to collect its long overdue share from the mounting unpaid rentals for the lease of Camp John Hay.
Councilor Pinky Rondez stressed this during the body's special session last Wednesday where the matter on the unpaid debt was discussed along with other crucial concerns of the city.
Rondez said the City must not just sit back and wait for the outcome of the ongoing court case between the warring Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) and the Camp John Hay Development Corporation (CJHDevCo) to collect what is due to it for many years now.
She also took to task the BCDA for not taking action at once against the John Hay lessor, the CJHDevCo when it first failed to pay its lease rental.
She said BCDA had the option to take over the tourist facility as it was the CJHDevCo that reneged on its obligations but it did not take action until the matters got entangled in a court mess.
The Council tasked the City Treasurer's Office (CTO) to sit down with the BCDA to reconcile their records to determine how much is the city's total unpaid share from the lease rentals.
As per CTO's records, the City's share stands at P681,509,159.33 as of 2005.
The body gave the treasurer?s office one week to complete the task.
Earlier, John Hay Management Council (JHMC) vice president and legal counsel Lyssa Calde said they are not allowed to divulge the amount in deference to the ongoing court case for injunction filed by CJHDevCo against BCDA.
The city has been trying to collect its share to fund priority projects but the BCDA said it cannot remit anything until the CJHDevCo pays its rent which it is not doing at the moment due to a court decision. Calde said the Supreme Court decision nullifying the tax incentives and other benefits to the John Hay Special Economic Zone prompted CJHDevCo to seek the suspension of lease payments until the issue was fully resolved. The suspension bid is now the subject of the injunction case.
Earlier, Mayor Braulio Yaranon reiterated the City's demand for the payment of the mounting obligation from the BCDA.
But BCDA said it has no fund of its own to pay the city since CJHDevCo was constrained by the SC decision to seek for the suspension of the lease payments.
The rentals amount to P425 million annually for the first five years, starting in 1996, and P150 million annually thereafter, with 12 percent interest and three percent penalty charges. (Aileen Refuerzo)
(August 27, 2006 issue)
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