Calling IBC-13 property project ‘one big scam,’ group to ask SC to void contract

AN anti-corruption group is set to ask the Supreme Court to declare void the joint venture agreement (JVA) for the development of the Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC-13) property in Quezon City.

Philippine Crusader for Justice (PCJ) led by Joe Villanueva said they would formally ask the high court to cancel the contract between RII Builders Inc.-Primestate Ventures and state-owned IBC-13 after the Office of the Ombudsman found the contract to be disadvantageous to the government.

“This deal is grossly disadvantageous to the government…yes, we will file a case with the Supreme Court,” Villanueva said in text message.

“This venture is one big scam,” he added.

IBC-13 and RII Builders Inc.-Primestate Ventures Inc. signed the joint venture agreement (JVA) on March 24, 2010, to develop 36,401 of the 41,401 square meters of IBC-13 property in Broadcast City in Capitol Hills, Diliman, Quezon City, into a residential complex and the remaining 5,000 sqm was for the construction of two buildings for IBC-13.

In a 2011 report, the Commission on Audit (COA) said the land contributed to the JVA was undervalued at only P9,999.99 per sqm when it could have been appraised at a much higher rate of P22,000 per sqm.

COA also said that the agreement in the JVA was in favor of RII Builders Inc.-Primestate Ventures Inc. as IBC-13 would only be left with 5,000 sqm for its Broadcast City “with a relatively small 2-story commercial building which may earn a small income.”

The Ombudsman filed a criminal case in 2013 against former IBC-13 executives and Primestate for violation of Republic Act No. 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act), and Falsification of Public Document under Article 171 of the Revised Penal Code.

The anti-graft body said the JVA caused undue injury to the government for P254,843,401 representing the difference between the Commission on Audit (COA) valuation and the JVA valuation of the 36,401 sqm property, which gave unwarranted benefits to RII-Primestate.

It said that the agreement between IBC-13 and RII-Primestate is not only grossly disadvantageous but also invalid and illegal for failure to follow the guidelines and procedures in entering a JVA between the government and private entities with evident bad faith and manifest partiality in favor of RII-Primestate and to the detriment of IBC-13.

IBC-13 and Primestate executives, the Ombudsman said, approved the agreement in haste, with misrepresentations in the clauses, and over the reservations made by the Presidential Commission on Good Government, Office of the Government Corporate Counsel, and Office of the Solicitor General which noted the deficiencies in the JVA.

Villanueva earlier also called on the COA to release its latest findings on the JVA. AC