BCDA says John Hay firm paid bad assets

BAGUIO CITY—The developer of Camp John Hay paid government with overvalued assets in 2008 due to a restructured lease contract it had decided to rescind on Monday, officials overseeing the former American rest and recreation area said.

Among the assets given to the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) by Fil Estate-owned Camp John Hay Development Corp. (CJHDevco) were three P50-million log homes, including a display house once suspected to be owned by pardoned plunder convict and former President Joseph Estrada, according to Leandro Yangot, board member of the John Hay Management Corp. (JHMC). JHMC manages Camp John Hay for the BCDA.

CJHDevco and BCDA drew up the restructured memorandum of agreement (RMOA) to settle CJHDevco’s debts involving P2.4 billion dating back to 1997. It allowed the developer to pay using assets and shares of stock in the company.

The RMOA also documents the P3-billion Camp John Hay investments of Ayala Land Inc., which is building the Ayala Baguio Technohub, as well as an agreement to explore the construction of a Baguio casino, which CJHDevco and the BCDA agreed not to enforce.

“But the log homes were in a state of decay, based on several inspections made when they were turned over as payment,” Yangot said.

Alfredo Yñiguez III, CJHDevco executive vice president and chief operating officer, said the firm paid its rent and arrears diligently after signing the RMOA but it suspended payments in October 2009 because of government’s inability to issue permits on time.

On Jan. 5, CJHDevco decided to rescind the RMOA to enable the firm to invoke the arbitration options laid out by the original lease contract drawn up in 1996, Yñiguez said.

He said the firm has not yet decided how it would reclaim assets it turned over to BCDA, including the log homes.

The rescission cost two BCDA officials their seats in the CJHDevco board because it nullified shares paid to BCDA.

In a statement on Tuesday,

BCDA vice president Dean Santiago, one of the government officials ejected from the CJHDevco board, said the developer won’t be allowed to abandon the project without paying P3 billion in rental debt.

Santiago said in a 12-year-span of commercializing Camp John Hay, CJHDevco sought and was allowed to defer payments for 1997 and 1998 and three restructured lease agreements dated July 14, 2000, July 18, 2003, and July 1, 2008.

In Bataan, BCDA Chair Felicito Payumo said rescinding the RMOA allows government to collect CJHDevco’s debts faster.

“They probably sensed we were going to do something about [their debts, so they tried to preempt us],” he said. Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon and Robert Gonzaga, Inquirer Central Luzon