DESPITE the case pending against it and the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill, the Cebu City Government can proceed with the bidding to develop the Pond A property at the South Road Properties (SRP).
City lawyers will also ask the court to dismiss the case filed by Expedition Construction Corp. for specific performance with an application for a temporary restraining order (TRO) and preliminary prohibitory and mandatory injunction before a trial court in Quezon City.
City lawyer Bernard Inocentes Garcia said that with the denial of the application for a TRO and writ of preliminary injunction, Expedition Construction could no longer stop the project to close and rehabilitate the landfill and to bid out the development of Pond A.
The construction firm had asked the court to stop the implementation of the contract awarded by the City Government to Full Advantage Phils. International Inc. to rehabilitate the landfill.
The construction company also asked the court to stop any bidding to develop Pond A.
The Regional Trial Court in Quezon City denied the application for the TRO and other injunctive relief, saying the court did not have any authority to enforce an injunctive writ against an act committed in Cebu City.
Even before the case was filed, the City Government had planned to dispose of lots 1-F-8-A and 1-H-1 at the SRP at P110,000 per square meter, or a total of P3.3 billion, through a public bidding.
In the City’s answer, the local government unit denied the submission of an unsolicited proposal in 2014 for lack of knowledge sufficient to form a belief as to the truth.
City lawyers said the current administration maintained a stand that the negotiation with the previous administration was not legally binding as there was no showing that the project in the unsolicited proposal involved a new concept or technology and that the bidder had implemented at a scale similar to the proposed project with the new technology.
“The alleged submission happened during the previous administration of former mayor Michael Rama, which the current administration of Tomas Osmeña had no knowledge or participation. The officials allegedly involved in the project are no longer connected with the Cebu City Government,” read a portion of the City’s answer. (RVC)