Marikina gov’t suing local business group

DE GUZMAN. Photo from marikina.gov.ph

The Marikina City government is suing a group of local businessmen for allegedly failing to pay around P14 million for the operation of a Christmas bazaar last year.

Mayor Del de Guzman on Saturday said he had ordered the filing of a civil case against officials of the local chapter of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) after the group failed to remit the balance of the P22 million it supposedly owed the city government.

The P22 million was the “contract price” set by the local government and PCCI-Marikina for the operation of the bazaar near the city hall, based on a memorandum of agreement (MOA) they signed in October 2012, according to Paul Sison, the city’s public information officer.

Sison said the charges will be filed on Monday.

Under the agreement, the group would pay the local government in three installments: P5 million upon signing of the contract on Oct. 8, 2012; P6 million on Nov. 30, 2012; and the balance of P11 million on Dec. 15, 2012, he said.

But PCCI-Marikina only managed to pay the first, P5-million installment and failed to pay the rest on time, Sison said.

The city government had sent three demand letters to the group on Dec. 11, 2012, and Jan. 9 and 24 this year, but it only managed to pay an additional P2.2 million recently, he added.

“Formal charges have been deferred after PCCI officials promised us that they will honor their obligation if we can give them more time…to raise the amount,” De Guzman said in a statement.

Sison explained that the group was given enough time to comply since it had been a longtime partner of the city government in several projects.

De Guzman ordered City Treasurer Ricardo Castro and Legal Officer Florella B. Almarez to file the charges in a Marikina court.

Reached on the phone for comment, PCCI-Marikina head Eduardo Francisco said local authorities had the right to file a case but maintained that the one they were contemplating against his group had no basis.

He argued that his group no longer owed the local government any money since its members who took part in the bazaar incurred “losses” because of the city government’s failure to meet its “deliverables” under the MOA, such as the installation of stalls for the bazaar, among others.

Francisco said the losses amounted to P16.02 million.

He said this amount should be deducted from the total contract price of P22 million that PCCI-Marikina had to pay.

“So if you add that to the P7.2 million we already paid, we have actually already paid (the local government) in excess,” he said.

According to Sison, the P22 million represents the contract price the group had to pay when it was chosen as the bazaar organizer. The money would come from the lease payments for some 400 stalls put up by the participating businessmen, he said.

He said that while only Francisco and executive director Leonardo Clarino were actively involved in the project, other officers would be named as respondents in the civil case since the PCCI as a group entered into the agreement.