A private company has filed criminal and administrative charges before the Office of the Ombudsman against Navotas Mayor John Rey Tiangco, Vice Mayor Joseph Javier and the entire city council for allegedly approving a resolution that impaired the company’s obligations under a reclamation contract.
In a 21-page complaint, 1st Seafront Renew Inc., represented by its corporate secretary Bede Tabalingcos, accused the local officials of violating Republic Act No. 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, when they issued City Resolution No. 2010-98 in December last year.
The resolution specifies the “automatic withdrawal of the recognition and acknowledgement” of a memorandum of agreement between the heirs of one Ramon Chuanico and Seafront for the joint funding and development of some 650 hectares of land under the Navotas North Bay Business Park Reclamation Project.
The MOA, which was signed by the two parties in 2009, was previously affirmed by former Mayor Toby Tiangco.
“The unilateral, arbitrary and ‘automatic withdrawal of the recognition and acknowledgement’ of the MOA … through respondents’ conspiracy, manifest partiality, evident bad faith and gross inexcusable negligence certainly caused undue and irreparable damage to complainant, which could be reasonably estimated in an amount of at least P3,500,000,000,” it said.
Despite Seafront’s repeated demands for the “immediate implementation of the subject reclamation and development project,” the complaint said the respondents continued to use the resolution to “deny (the complainant’s) constitutional right to due process and equal protection of the laws.”
This left the company with no recourse but to file the said charges since the “causing of any undue injury to any party,” it said, constituted a “corrupt practice of public officers” as provided for in section 3 of RA 3019.
“(The) respondents who are public officials must (therefore) be placed under preventive suspension pursuant to (the law),” the complainant prayed.