House to summon Estrada, Lim on Torre de Manila bribery claims

The House committee on Metro Manila development will summon Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada and his predecessor, Alfredo Lim, to shed light on allegations that bribes enabled D.M. Consunji Inc. (DMCI) to break zoning restrictions  and build the 49-story Torre de Manila which, according to critics, “photobombs” the Rizal Monument.

Quezon City Rep. and committee chair Winston Castelo said that they would invite Estrada, Lim and other city officials to determine who was responsible for allowing the company to break the rules.

Lim earlier accused Estrada of receiving millions of pesos in bribes in exchange for giving DMCI the green light to build a condominium with 49 floors or seven times the height limit when the latter took over as mayor in 2013.

But Estrada lashed back at Lim, showing documents to prove that it was the latter who approved the building and zoning permits for DMCI when he was still mayor in mid-2012.

He also claimed that it was Lim who authorized the condominium’s height of 49 stories, contrary to the latter’s claim that he and DMCI agreed on just 19 floors.

A House committee wants to know if money changed hands in the construction of Torre de Manila. ARNOLD ALMACEN

Work on the condominium, which has been criticized as it will ruin the line of sight of the Rizal Monument, was temporarily halted last week based on an order issued by the Supreme Court.

While the bribery charges remained murky, Castelo said that it was clear that DMCI flaunted the rules despite clear-cut zoning rules in effect in the areas surrounding  Rizal Park.

“We will also study appropriate charges against DMCI for blatantly disregarding the  cease-and-desist order issued (CDO) by the National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA),” said Castelo in a text message.
“There was total deception and misrepresentation here because NCCA issued the CDO in January 2015 yet they [continued] to market it for profit,” he added.

While DMCI expressed concern over the fate of its affected workers, Castelo said that the company should be more concerned about the hundreds of buyers who bought units in the building.

“There is no other way but to refund whatever payment was made. Either DMCI refunds [the full amount or it provides] a [similarly priced] dwelling in many [of the company’s] existing developments,” he added.

According to Castelo, the committee will ask the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board to withdraw DMCI’s license to sell and warn buyers against buying any more units in the project to avoid legal problems.

“Our priority is to get a permanent injunction from the court for the eventual demolition of that historical eyesore and restore once again the unobstructed beauty of the Luneta skyline,” he said.