Tadeco says only court could void BuCor lease

Solicitor General Jose Calida. RODRIGUEZ/Presidential Photo

DAVAO CITY — The country’s biggest banana exporting company on Friday said Solicitor General Jose Calida spoke too soon without knowing what he was talking about when he declared that its joint venture agreement (JVA) with the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) was void.

In a statement, the Tagum Agricultural Development Co. Inc. (Tadeco) said the Department of Justice (DOJ) still had to conclude its review of the JVA for the use of the more than 5,300 hectares of prison land in Davao del Norte to grow bananas for export.

Tadeco is owned by the family of second district Davao del Norte Rep. Antonio “Tonyboy” Floirendo Jr., President Duterte’s chief poll campaign financier in the May 2016 elections.

“Our JVA has withstood the test of time and multiple reviews by secretaries of justice and several congressional investigations over so many years,” the Tadeco statement said.

“All of them have found our JVA to be valid and beneficial to the BuCor and the Republic of the Philippines,” Tadeco said.

Calida on Thursday said the Tadeco-BuCor JVA violated the Constitution and a Commonwealth-era law that allowed use of public land only through homestead, sale, lease or confirmation of an imperfect title. He said the renewed agreement would extend the period of the JVA beyond the 50-year limit allowed by law for the use of public land.

Tadeco said Calida’s statement was “premature and uninformed.”

“Furthermore,” Tadeco said, “there is no case filed before the courts on the cancellation of the JVA. Only the courts of law can declare that a contract is void.”

A separate inquiry by the House of Representatives sought by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez has not yet begun.

Alvarez and Floirendo had been close friends but had a falling out as a result of a squabble between their mistresses late last year.

Alvarez said he was seeking the inquiry because the JVA was “grossly disadvantageous to the government and was lopsided in favor of Tadeco.”

Tadeco said Calida’s statement was “a clear case of prejudging the JVA.” —FRINSTON LIM