Monday, October 23, 2006 DOT chief rejects opposition to PNB
AS FAR as the government is concerned, Coral Reef Resort and Golf Club (Coral Reef) is already a property of the Philippine National Bank (PNB).
“The Supreme Court has already decided on the case. And its decision (which is in favor of the PNB) is final,” Tourism Secretary Joseph “Ace Durano” told Sun.Star Cebu in an interview.
Palm Tree Estate Inc. and Bel Air Golf Inc. filed a civil case for illegal mortgage and foreclosure against PNB. Palm Tree used to operate Coral Reef Resort while Bel Air ran the golf club.
Kenichi Akimoto, president and chairman of both companies, earlier said they are not surrendering Coral Reef to PNB, saying the companies have already invested about $30 million to $ 40 million of their own funds on the 50-room resort.
Resume
He said the companies are planning to resume the operations of the resort, as soon as the case is resolved, as they forsee a boom in Cebu’s tourism industry.
But Durano said the Department of Tourism (DOT) will talk only to the PNB.
The DOT has been helping defunct hotels and resorts in Cebu look for partners and investors to enable them to reopen the facilities and solve the problem on shortage of guest rooms in Cebu.
Durano revealed that PNB is in serious negotiations with a foreign buyer for Coral Reef.
In a separate interview, Romulo Senining, legal counsel of Palm Tree and Bel Air, said prospective buyers of Coral Reef will have to deal with his clients because of the pending case.
Foreclosed
The resort, which started operations in 1989, has been foreclosed by PNB in September last year after Palm Tree and Bel Air failed to pay their $420-million loan incurred in 1997 for the purpose of expansion.
Senining said the main case, which was filed in 2001 yet, seeks to nullify the real estate mortgage to PNB on allegations of vague loan agreements.
“The terms and conditions of the loan agreements, such as that on the value of the peso to the dollar, were changed after the mortgage was constituted. There was also coercion, an imposition on the companies to accept unilaterally the interest pegged by PNB,” he alleged in an interview.
Palm Tree and Bel Air incurred the loan in 1997, when the value of the peso to the dollar was still around P24, he said.
The weighted average of the peso last Friday stood at 50.083 against the dollar. (JBN)
