Ayala confident court to sustain bid for Bacolod

CEBU CITY, Philippines—Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) on Friday maintained that it submitted its bid for the 7.7-hectare property of the Negros Occidental provincial government in good faith and in compliance with the requirements of law and procedure.

“We remain confident that the decision of the Provincial Government to award the project to Ayala Land will be sustained by the courts,” said ALI in an email to the Inquirer on Friday.

The ALI, however, declined to comment on the temporary restraining order issued by the Court of Appeals that enjoined the provincial government from proceeding with the sale and lease of the prime property in Bacolod City to ALI.

“As we are not a party to the case, we regret that we cannot comment on the order of the Court of Appeals,” the company statement said.

ALI, however, maintained that all interested parties had been given the equal opportunity to participate in a bidding process that was conducted with transparency and due regard for the rules.

The provincial government on July 15 awarded the sale and lease of 7.7 hectares of its prime property in Bacolod to ALI.

But SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SMPHI) questioned this and filed a petition for certiorari before the Regional Trial Court in Bacolod.

Judge Estefanio S. Libutan Jr. of the RTC Branch 50, however, didn’t grant the request of SMPHI for a temporary restraining order. The judge instead, asked the respondents—Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. and the members of the Committee on Awards and Disposal of properties—to comment on the SMPHI petition.

The SMPHI elevated their petition for certiorari to the CA, which then issued a TRO on Wednesday.

According to the SMPHI, the move of the province to give ALI the right to purchase and lease the property was invalid because its petition was still pending before the Bacolod Regional Trial Court.

Earlier, SMPHI lawyer Vince Bayhon also questioned the provincial government’s decision to declare a failure of bidding. He noted that the provincial government did not disclose the floor price or appraisal value during the public bidding and even after the sealed bids of both parties were opened and read aloud.

The SMPHI insisted that it “clearly” submitted a superior bid over Ayala on July 7 and was surprised that the provincial government’s committee on bid and disposal of properties had declared a failure of bidding.

Marañon remained optimistic that the sale and lease of the Capitol property to ALI would push through despite a TRO obtained by SMPHI.

Noting that the TRO was only for 60 days, the governor said the support of the community for the Capitol’s development project with Ayala has been snowballing.

“I do not want it to reach a point where the people will boycott SM because of its actions,” he pointed out.