John Hay firm says House role in feud welcome
BAGUIO CITY—The House committee on bases conversion has interceded in the debt feud between the developer and administrator of Camp John Hay, a move that the developer said it welcomed.
The committee tasked Baguio City Rep. Bernardo Vergara and Benguet Rep. Ronald Cosalan with conducting a fact-finding mission to determine the financial condition of the Camp John Hay tourism estate project after an inquiry on Wednesday.
Vergara will lead a technical working group to address a legal battle dating back to 2003 over so-called unpaid rent by Camp John Hay Development Corp. (CJHDevco), the private consortium developing the former US military rest and recreation facility.
At the hearing on Wednesday, Alfredo Yñiguez III, CJHDevco chief operating officer, was quoted by a CJHDevco statement as saying he welcomed the House move.
“We have bent backwards,” said Yñiguez in the CJHDevco statement. “We have acted in good faith because we believe in the project and we want to make it work,” he said.
“We would not come this far and hang on this long if we didn’t believe in the project,” the statement quoted Yñiguez as saying. “We need to find a ‘win-win’ solution which will primarily benefit the city of Baguio,” he said.
Vergara said he wanted to rescue the Camp John Hay project by mediating a settlement between CJHDevco and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), which recently sued CJHDevco at the Department of Justice for estafa and squatting.
CJHDevco has secured a status quo order from a Baguio court to prevent a BCDA attempt to repossess the former American rest and recreation area.
The squabble became public when their officials engaged in a media war, after CJHDevco rescinded in December 2011 its restructured lease contract over government’s contractual breaches. The developer pursued arbitration to collect P14 billion in damage claims from the BCDA.
Vergara said the BCDA and CJHDevco needed to withdraw all pending suits. Starting fresh negotiations, he said, would be necessary if they want their businesses to prosper. New negotiations will also enable Baguio to collect its 25-percent share from the developer’s annual rent, he said.
Yñiguez said the House hearing afforded the firm the opportunity to explain the feud.
“We are where we are because of where
BCDA put us,” he told the Inquirer by telephone.
CJHDevco, in its press statements, said government’s failure to issue all of the firm’s development permits had delayed the infrastructure projects that it needed to generate income to pay its rent.
Lawyer Arnel Casanova, BCDA president, disputed this, saying the government had fulfilled its obligations.
Casanova welcomed the inquiry. He said Congress indicated it would pursue an independent audit of John Hay operations.
Returning to the negotiating table requires full transparency and good faith, he said. Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon
