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Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Court asked: Stop South Road Properties deals
By Katrina N. Tabanao & Linette C. Ramos
With Nancy Cudis
CEBU CITY -- Tinago Barangay Captain Joel Garganera is asking the Regional Trial Court (RTC) to stop Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, the City Council, the Cebu Investment Promotions Center (CIPC) and the Register of Deeds from marketing, selling, disposing of or leasing the South Road Properties (SRP).
He wants the court to issue a temporary restraining order and a writ of preliminary injunction.
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Also, Garganera asked the court to prohibit the City Council from granting any authority to the mayor and to stop the body from ratifying any sale or lease of the SRP.
If not stopped, Garganera said, the City Government will “open the floodgates of lawsuits arising” from their alleged illegal transactions.
Osmeña’s act of leasing a portion of the 240-hectare SRP to Bigfoot Entertainment Philippines Inc. without a congressional authority and public bidding is illegal, he said.
“Osmeña’s avowed projection of selling the SRP to private corporations is nothing but a grand deception. His marketing and promotional strategies are blunders of horrific proportions. Consequently, they must be stopped,” said Garganera in his civil suit filed at the RTC.
In his news conference, the mayor said Garganera is just trying to destroy the reputation of the SRP for his own political interest, but he is willing to face whatever case will be filed against the City.
“As far as I’m concerned, the SRP has been approved by Congress. This is a bill on the loan agreement between the Philippine Government and the Japanese Government, and that was approved. If we go back to Congress for every little thing, it’s not physically possible,” Osmeña said.
This is the second time legalities over the SRP, which cost about P6.3 billion in loans, cropped up. The Talisay City Government also staked a claim over some 54 hectares of the property, saying these fall within its territorial jurisdiction.
Garganera explained that SRP is classified as lands of the public domain, which means that it is owned by the state.
This classification, Garganera said, was retained in Proclamation 843 of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, in Special Patent 3693 and the Original Certificate of Title 3581.
He wants Proclamation 843, which transferred the ownership of the SRP to the City Government, nullified because there was no congressional authority allowing the President to transfer ownership of the land.
He cited Supreme Court decision on Laurel vs. Garcia, which declared that “it is not for the President to convey real property of the government on his or her own sole will. Any such conveyance must be authorized and approved by a law enacted by Congress. It requires executive and legislative concurrence.”
But the mayor, in his news conference Monday, said the loan for the 240-hectare SRP was approved by Congress and, for him, it sale or lease for income generation purposes is also good as approved.
Garganera said his filing of the petition is to prevent blatant violations of the law and the Constitution.
He said that he “will not personally benefit from this petition.”
“Rather, his filing will expose him to all kinds of danger,” Garganera’s petition read.
Mayor Osmeña said he already anticipated criticisms against his administration and the SRP to surface during the election period.
That is why he decided to put on hold the bidding for the sale of SRP lots to at least five possible investors.
The City Government and the CIPC, the marketing arm of the SRP, will prepare their answer once they get a copy of the complaint.
He warned that local courts cannot stop the City from proceeding with the sale, lease or disposal of the SRP lots since only the Supreme Court can issue a temporary restraining order on infrastructure projects.
Granting that Proclamation 843 is valid and by the same token the special patents, the original certificate of title and the transfer certificate of title are valid, Garganera said, still the SRP cannot be alienated, encumbered or otherwise disposed of in a manner affecting its title except when authorized by Congress.
And even if the City had been given congressional authority to convey the said lands, the lots can be sold only to qualified private parties and never to private corporations and associations, he said.
Also, assuming that legislative authority had been granted, the City can lease to private corporations, but subject to limitations set by the Constitution, which is that the lease period shall not exceed 25 years and the maximum area is 1,000 hectares, and 500 hectares for private individuals.
The City leased two hectares or 20,000 square meters of the SRP to Bigfoot for a period of 25 years.
Incidentally, there was no public bidding conducted prior to the lease, Garganera said.
Osmeña, however, said that the SRP is operating under Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) rules and regulations, which exempt special economic zones from holding a bidding when leasing lots.
Before filing his petition, the barangay captain, who ran for city councilor in the 2004 elections under the opposition Kugi, Uswag Sugbo (Kusug), called for a news conference Monday morning.
“Ultimately, the constituents and taxpayers of Cebu City will suffer,” he said.
He presented a summary of the payments that the City made for its SRP loan since 2003.
In 2003, the City paid P73.84 million for the interest alone.
A year later, the City paid P167.15 million, also for the interest.
From P243.188 million in revenues in 2004, the City intensified its tax collection and was able to collect P511.073 million in 2005.
In 2005, it paid P460.45 million-P304,248,656.27 of which went to the interest and P156,201,678.50 for the principal.
Garganera said the City needs to pay about P620 million for both foreign and domestic loans this year.
“Undeniably, it is the people who will bear the brunt of paying these loans and will continue to suffer for the lack of basic services owing to the City’s financial distress,” he added.
He pointed out that payment for this loan, if used for basic services, could build 700 classrooms a month and provide 1,700 sacks of rice in a year for poor families.
Osmeña confirmed Garganera’s computation that the City is shelling out P1.7 million a day for the loan principal and interest.
The investment, he said, is worth it since the project cost will amount to only P2,000 per square meter.
The interest paid may be huge but for Osmeña, the SRP will give Cebu City a future.
City Councilor and lawyer Hilario Davide III, whom the mayor consulted during his news conference, agreed with the mayor’s statements.
But he declined from commenting further on the issue until he reads a copy of the petition.
“Personally I think this is an anti-development move on their part, like they’re trying to block the progress of the project,” Davide said in a phone interview.
If Garganera insists the lease of the SRP lots is illegal, then all establishments at the North Reclamation Area and the reclamation area along Roxas Blvd. in Manila should also be considered illegal, said the mayor.
In a phone interview Monday, CIPC Director Joel Mari Yu said he is not bothered by Garganera’s complaint and he is confident that they complied with all legal and documentary requirements where the SRP is concerned.
Peza, the Department of Justice, the Commission on Audit and the Department of Interior and Local Government were all consulted, but none of the agencies required congressional authority for the transfer of ownership of the SRP from the National Government to the City Government. (Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Baguio. (March 27, 2007 issue)
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