A CIVIL complaint involving the P1.7 billion loan was filed before the Regional Trial Court in Bacolod City against Mayor Evelio Leonardia, members of the City Council, city hall executives, and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).
The complaint was filed by former vice mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson, former councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, and businessman Antonio Wong on January 18 against Leonardia, Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran; Councilors Caesar Distrito, Cindy Rojas, Renecito Novero, Em Ang, Elmer Sy, Ana Marie Palermo, Dindo Ramos, Bartolome Orola, Sonya Verdeflor, Lady Gles Gonzale-Pallen, and Ayesha Joy Villaflor; City Council Secretary Vicente Petierre III; City Treasurer Giovanni Balalilhe; City Budget Officer Maria Imelda Williams; City Accountant Corazon Cardel; DBP Negros Occidental Lending Center head Bernardo Catillion Jr.
In a press conference Monday, January 21, lawyer Cesar Beloria, Jr., spokesperson of the complainants’ legal team, said they filed the civil case for certiorari, prohibition, and annulment of contract with a prayer for a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, and/or preliminary mandatory injunction.
He said Councilors Ricardo Tan, Wilson Gamboa Jr., and Claudio Puentevella were not included on the case because they opposed or abstained on the approval of the loan.
In December 2018, the City Council ratified the term loan agreement and continuing deed of assignment with a hold-out agreement between the City Government and DBP involving the P1.7 billion loan to fund the city’s flagship projects.
These projects are Progreso Village Relocation Site with the budget of P350 million; Bacolod City College Site Development and Facilities, P350 million; Bacolod MassKara Coliseum, P800 million; and the construction of roads and bridges, P200 million.
Beloria said on November 21, 2018, the City Council through its chairperson on laws, ordinances, and good government, Distrito, issued a notice of public hearing and served it on November 22 on a selected group of 18 persons or entities named in the document.
The document informed them that on November 26, 2018, a hearing will be held for the purpose of discussing the term loan agreement and continuing deed of assignment with hold-out agreement that the Bacolod City will enter into with DBP, and borrowing ordinance on this proposed loan agreement.
“There was no invitation to the public, no publication or information of this very important affairs. After the meeting on November 26, which was deceivingly called a public hearing because the public was not even notified, Distrito immediately endorsed to the City Council Secretary, a five-page committee report outlining the discussions regarding the proposed loan agreement and continuing deed of assignment during the so-called public hearing,” he said.
Also, on the same day, November 26, members of the City Council also passed and approved Resolution 1227 Series of 2018, a resolution adopting the committee report; Resolution 1231, a resolution authorizing the mayor to sign the proposed term loan agreement and the continuing deed of assignment with hold-out agreement by and between the city government and DBP; Resolution 1232, a resolution approving on first, second, third and final reading the proposed borrowing ordinances as required by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, entitled an ordinance on the borrowing of the City of Bacolod in the amount of P1.7 billion, he added.
Beloria further said that on November 28, 2018, the City Mayor received a letter from DBP informing him that the loan of P1.7 billion was already approved by the board of directors.
He said that based on the records, there were no supporting documents submitted based on the committee report. The said resolutions and ordinances were approved for the common purpose of funding local development priority projects of Bacolod such as the construction of the MassKara coliseum, development of Progreso Villa relocation site, Bacolod City College site development and facilities, and construction and rehabilitation of roads and bridges.
“These resolutions and ordinances are invalid and ineffective because they were not posted and published in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government Code particularly Section 59. The mad rush to pass and approve all the necessary resolutions and ordinances for this P1.7 billion transaction is a candidate for Guinness because it took only 20 days to complete, from the sham public hearing on November 26 up to notice of approval of the loan on November 28, then the passage of the appropriation ordinance on December 14,” he added.
Beloria disclosed that there is more than enough factual and legal basis to prevent the release of any portion of the loan pending resolution of the issues in this case because the city mayor had no authority to contract the loan because all the pertinent resolutions and ordinances are invalid and ineffective for failing to comply with the posting publication requirements; the procedure in the passage of the approval of the pertinent resolutions and ordinances blatantly violated the Constitutional right of the public to full disclosure and information in a matter that is so grave and far-reaching considering that terms of payment of the loan are onerous; the collateralization of the loan would last 15 years or until 2034 and clearly, beyond the terms or even lifetime of the approving public respondents; the public officials failed to secure prior opinion of the monetary board for the borrowing ordinance.
“We would like to annul the contract between the DBP and the city government, and we also requested for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction not to release the funds, however, if the funds are already in the pocket of the city, we also requested for preliminary mandatory injunction to return the funds to DBP for some legal grounds,” he said.
Batapa-Sigue, for her part, said as a private citizen of Bacolod, she trusts and respects the legal process.
“As of now, this issue about P1.7 billion loan has been an issue in the coffee shop, media or radio so the most ultimate question is do we allow it to happen despite that there many people or citizens of Bacolod that are raising questions. We filed the case for and on behalf of the citizens of Bacolod that are asking time to take a look at the whole transaction,” she said.
She’s also very thankful that despite the difficulty in putting this case together, they have a team of 10 lawyers from private sectors to take the right course or to bring the question to the court.
Sayson said the P1.7 billion loan was only approved in a day where the projects stated are not necessary.
“As a former presiding officer, I don’t believe that this will be approved immediately. I’m telling the current presiding officer that he should maintain the equality among branches of government which is the legislative and executive,” he said.
Sayson recalled that he was also part of the P400 million loan for the construction of the Bacolod Government Center, but it was a work in progress for almost one year, as well as on the loan transaction of the relocation site which it took them two terms before the completion of the project.
Distrito earlier said that the loan had been discussed thoroughly, extensively, and followed all the processes.
“In fact, we even conducted a public hearing inviting anyone interested and the DBP to answer any questions on the matter. Nobody came to object,” he said.*