Resolve Rallos claims, Filinvest asks Rama

THE court lien on parcels of land at the South Road Properties (SRP) which were earmarked for a joint venture with Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI) is making it difficult for the real estate developer to already market condominium projects in adjacent lots.

“Although we’re not yet developing and marketing the property (under lien), it is hard to explain to the public that the properties we are selling now are not affected by the Rallos claims,” said Tristan Las Marias, Filinvest Vice President for the Visayas and Mindanao.

The official referred to the payment claims by the Rallos heirs against the Cebu City government for use of the family property in Sambag II.

In a message delivered in last Monday’s Taxpayers Night, Las Marias credited the city’s business-friendly environment as one of the keys in their business success.

But while Filinvest was cited as th 15th highest paying business taxpayer in the city, they still owe the city at least P600 million as the government’s share of its joint venture (JV) agreement with the real estate developer.

The P600 million share was identified as one of the sources of the city’s 2012 budget of P5.4 billion.

The executive department also identified a P1 billion revenue from the Filinvest share as among the sources of Rama’s 2013 budget of P6.7 billion.

Rama said in an interview that his “lieutenants” are now in discussion with Filinvest to facilitate the collection of its joint venture share. “We are into the process of computing the collections and reconciling this with the conditions of the joint venture guidelines,” Las Marias said.

He said it’s possible Filinvest will pay the city’s share before the year ends.

Las Marias said it would help if the city already resolve the issue on the Rallos lot claims. “I hope the city is doing actions/initiatives to lift the garnishment and I hope that we can get a favorable resolution soon,” he added. /Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac