Uniwide plans to replace Baguio public market

STRAWBERRY stands mean one is in the Baguio public market. The Baguio government has asked its developer, Uniwide, if it intends to pursue a lease development contract to improve the market, which has been stalled by litigation for 18 years. EV ESPIRITU/INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

BAGUIO CITY—Debt-ridden Uniwide Sales Realty and Resources Corp. had informed the city government that it intended to proceed with its plans to replace the public market here with an eight-story market facility, Mayor Mauricio Domogan said on Wednesday.

Two days earlier, however, the city council began discussing a proposal to cancel Uniwide’s 1996 contract, which the Supreme Court had validated in a Sept. 2 decision.

The high court ruling ended a 20-year legal challenge from city vendors who claimed that the develop-build-lease (DBL) configuration of the Baguio market deal had violated the Build-Operate-Transfer Law (Republic Act No. 6957, which had been amended).

In a Nov. 9 letter, Uniwide chair Jimmy Gow told Domogan he intended to upgrade and improve plans for the market in the next six months, following the issuance of the high court decision.

Uniwide won the contract to lease and develop a P1.7-billion structure which it would operate for 30 years, but the 1996 deal also granted the city government control over the building’s first floor that would house the vendors.

Domogan said Uniwide assured the city government that it was financially equipped to begin the project.

But the proposed measure, sponsored by Vice Mayor Edison Bilog and Councilor Faustino Olowan, sought to cancel the DBL agreement, arguing that Uniwide had been dissolved.

The draft measure cites the May 30, 2013, order issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission to dissolve all companies under Uniwide, which had suffered “financial hemorrhage since 1999.”

Domogan said Bilog was courting a lawsuit for breach of contract. “The market development contract is a bilateral contract so we should sit down and discuss issues first with Uniwide,” the mayor said during his weekly media briefing.

“They will sue us if we unilaterally cancel the contract. I am making this point not to favor anyone, much less Uniwide. But we need to be legal and fair. There is a contract and the court declared it valid. But one of the parties says they don’t want the contract and wants it canceled. That is a problem,” Domogan said. Jessica Tabilin, Inquirer Northern Luzon