THE Court of Appeals (CA) reportedly allowed an alternative dispute resolution, a settlement outside of the courtroom, between Duros Development Corp. (DDC) and the Cebu Provincial Government in relation to the P100 million claim filed by the contractor.
Duros wants to collect the unpaid dues for projects implemented during the previous administration.
Provincial Legal Office Head Orvi Ortega, however, said that his office is still waiting for a copy of the CA’s order before it can start a court settlement with Duros.
“Nakadawat mi og (We received a) manifestation gikan sa abogado sa (from the lawyer of) Duros (that) they would like to seek a mediation with Court of Appeals,” said Ortega.
He said the Province has not yet answered the letter because it is still waiting a formal notice from CA, which will set the date of the mediation.
Ortega said that whatever will be the outcome of the mediation, it will be part of judicial proceedings, and whatever compromise they may arrived at it will be part of the court decision.
Duros is collecting P100 million payment for the projects implemented during the previous administration, whose contracts were not authorized by the Cebu Provincial Board (PB).
Ortega said that DDC and Pragmatic Construction were the only two contractors that filed complaint against the Province.
He said that Pragmatic Construction also wants to collect some P50 million in unpaid dues from the Province. The complaint is still with the Construction Industry Arbitration Commission (CIAC).
Duros had filed the complaint before with CIAC, which got a favorable decision. This prompted the Province to appeal the commission’s decision to CA.
Last March, the appellate court granted the writ of preliminary injunction through a resolution penned by Associate Justice Luisa Quijano-Padilla that stopped CIAC from enforcing an order for the Province to pay Duros about P100 million.