SM-Ayala fight gets more interesting

The fight among mall owners for choice properties all over the Philippines to be developed into shopping malls and condominiums is getting more vicious. For example, the rivalry between Ayala Land (ALI) and SM Prime Holdings (SMPH) over two pieces of choice property in Bacolod has spread to the courts. Flashback: ALI and SMPH were two bidders for the purchase of 3.63 hectares and the lease of about 4.048 hectares of land in Bacolod owned by the Negros Occidental provincial government.

SMPH proposed to buy the 3.63-hectare lot at P18,000 per square meter and lease the 4.048-hectare lot for P65 per sq.m. a month. ALI bidded P17,000 per sq.m. for the sale and P50 per sq.m. for the lease portion. The bids and awards committee headed by Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. revealed the floor prices only after the bidding: P19,000 per sq.m. It declared a failure of bidding because both bids were below the floor price. Then it awarded the properties to ALI in a negotiated transaction.

Foul! cried SMPH as it went to court. It asked the Bacolod regional trial court to invalidate the decision of the Marañon committee, the provincial government and the Commission on Audit on the disposition of the property. The RTC refused to stop the negotiated sale. So SMPH went to the Court of Appeals for a temporary restraining order. Last July 20, the CA’s 20th division in Cebu stopped Judge Estefanio Libutan Jr. of the Bacolod RTC from enforcing his order for 60 days. That effectively stopped Governor Marañon and the provincial government from going through with the sale of the property to ALI—for at least 60 days.

Now comes the news that ALI has offered legal assistance to Marañon in the CA case. Foul again, says legal experts. Marañon had told the Bacolod press about ALI’s purported offer.

Marañon reportedly revealed the offer after meeting with ALI vice president Jose Emmanuel Jalandoni in a closed-door meeting in the governor’s office. The offer was confirmed by ALI spokesman Jorge Miguel Marco in a separate published report in Manila on July 27, 2011 in BusinessWorld. “It’s their case now,” Marañon reportedly said.

ALI may be violating the law by doing that, according to legal circles. ALI is not a party to the case in the CA, they said, and it has no business meddling in it. ALI could be answerable, along with key officials of the provincial government, they said. They expressed doubt that ALI would stake its reputation by directly getting embroiled in the legal fight without violating existing laws.

SMPH went to court questioning the validity of the Marañon committee decision declaring the July 7 bidding a failure and subsequently awarding the properties to ALI in a negotiated transaction.

It said the committee erred in declaring a failure of bidding because SMPH, ALI and the other bidders were all compliant bidders. SMPH insisted that it should have been declared the winner as its bid was far superior to the other bids despite the committee’s belated revelation that all bids were below the floor price. In the first place, why did the Marañon committee keep the floor price a secret until a day after the bids had been submitted? How do we know that the committee didn’t fix the floor price above the bids, after the bidding, to be able to declare a failure of bidding? they asked.

This is getting more interesting. Wait for future developments.

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From the very beginning of the petroleum leak incident in Bangkal, Makati, the West Tower Condominium unit owners that the public has known are those that have been very vocal against the pipeline owners, the First Philippine Industrial Corp. (FPIC). Apologies have been made, FPIC has deployed all its resources for the cleanup and restoration, but 67 unit plaintiffs in the case are hell-bent on punishing FPIC. This group is asking for billions of pesos in damages.

The West Tower unit owners association has floated a P2.6 billion figure for FPIC to buy the building and pay damages. Later, they formalized their demand to a lower figure of P2 billion. When FPIC regarded their demand as still unreasonable, the association sued for P2.3 billion and 10 percent attorney’s fees.

Nonetheless, even without the court finding any liability, FPIC offered financial relocation or lose-of-rental income assistance, plus some goodwill money to the affected West Tower unit owners.

Owners of at least 20 units, whom we shall call “the silent minority,” availed themselves of FPIC’s financial assistance. They did not join the class suit filed by the adversarial group, and now they eagerly await the completion of FPIC’s rehabilitation of West Tower.

One of these owners is West Tower structural engineer-on-record Boy Sy who owns two condo units.

Sy said he does not want to make money out of other people’s misery. “No one wanted this to happen,” he said.

He added that right at the outset, he was convinced that there was an engineering solution to the problem and has even agreed to join the team of experts that will rehabilitate the building.

Another resident is Paul Cruz who, together with his two children, live in two units (200 square meters) that they own in the condo. In an interview, Paul said that he is “hoping that FPIC finishes the rehabilitation work at the building so that we can go back to our units.”

“FPIC is in good faith in the whole situation,” he added. “I actually find it very considerate. I particularly appreciate the fact that it is talking to us, updating us regularly.”

In the course of rehabilitating the building, there have been blessings in disguise, he said. “FPIC discovered broken water pipes of Maynilad, which they also repaired. If this had not been discovered during FPIC’s rehabilitation of the condo, our water bills would have skyrocketed.”