Wednesday, October 03, 2007 Move, counter-move in Lapu-Lapu
THE conflict between Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza and Efrain Pelaez Jr. of the Mactan Island Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MICCI) is getting more serious by the day.
The mayor, through City Attorney Vincent Joseph Lim, has issued a series of legal notices to three Pelaez-owned businesses—Coral Point Resort, the Marina Mall and the Southgate Plaza Inc. But in the case of the two malls, the notices were sent to the tenants.
Pelaez has described the issuance of the notices as “plain and simple harassment.” He said nobody in his right mind will cite an establishment with violations but serve the notices on the establishment’s clients.
He, however, faced the issues in a press conference held in Cebu City yesterday and presented documents that answer the City Government’s claims.
The businessman is also on the counter-offensive.
Suspension
He has submitted a formal motion asking that Radaza be placed under preventive suspension for the allegedly overpriced purchase of some 470 personal computers (PCs) in 2005.
Moreover, the businessman has asked the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to investigate the mayor, his business associates, campaign contributors, identified supporters and even certain City Hall department heads, to see if they are paying the right amount of income tax.
Pelaez wants to include lawyer Richard Sison, City Attorney Lim, Rolando Duero, the mayor’s executive assistant, and City Administrator Teodulo Ybañez.
“Our lawyers are still studying what other options are available for us to take,” he said.
Establishments such as the Buns and Pizza Enterprises, CMC Pawnshop Inc., Chosono Inc., Rose Pharmacy Inc., Orange Brutus, Southgate Medical and Dental Center, Aboitiz Land Inc., Country Trends ad Home Furnishing received the notices last Thursday.
The notices bore the subject “cancellation/revocation of business permit” and threatened the issuance of a notice of closure without specifying if it targeted the mall building or their individual shops.
“The City Government, upon careful review of pertinent documents, has found out that the building you are occupying does not have any locational clearance, building permit, (and) fire and safety clearance,” the notices read.
Ploy
The notices state other findings: that certain taxes have remained unsettled and that, in some cases, the assessments for real property taxes have been misdeclared.
Pelaez, during the press conference yesterday, presented papers such as building and occupancy permits for both the Marina and Southgate Malls.
The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) issued the documents last year.
“City Attorney Lim seems to have forgotten that both malls are deemed located outside Lapu-Lapu City because they are within the economic zones,” Pelaez said.
And on Coral Point, Pelaez presented a permit from the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office and a City Hall certification stating that the area developed was covered by a foreshore lease agreement.
“Clearly this is nothing but harassment because we asked how much a Celeron computer is worth,” he said.
Pelaez, one of Radaza’s most vocal critics, earlier filed charges against the mayor before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas over the latter’s purchase of allegedly overpriced personal computers in 2005.
Speaking for the Coral Point Educational Foundation Inc., Pelaez, accused Radaza of facilitating the “anomalous” transaction and of making “P17 million tax-free” from it, on the side.
According to Pelaez, the Lapu-Lapu City Government spent P23,476,500 or about P50,000 each for 470 PCs when, at the time of the purchase, they were worth less than half the unit price.
“The actual unit cost could even be less because, as the Commission on Audit has found out, what was delivered to the schools were PCs of inferior specifications like Celeron instead of the specified Pentium 4 processors with 256 instead of the specified 512 megabytes of memory,” Pelaez said in the charge.
The City Government has yet to answer the complaint, though they organized a press conference right after it was filed.
When asked why cheaper Celeron-powered units were delivered instead of the Pentium 4 computers, City Attorney Lim asked,
