Zamboanga del Sur, Pagadian execs in P1-B land sale dispute

MALL ON THE RISE. Construction of Robinsons Mall is close to completion on land sold to the property development company by the Pagadian City local government. ±Photo courtesy of Pagadian City Government

PAGADIAN CITY, Philippines — A dispute between this city’s leadership and the Zamboanga del Sur provincial government over a 3.7-hectare property threatens the attractiveness of the land to future investors.

Mayor Samuel Co and Zamboanga del Sur Gov. Victor Yu had clashed over the sale of the property at the heart of the urban center, which is now undergoing commercial development by Robinsons Land Development Corp.

In August 2020, Robinsons Land acquired through a bidding 2.5 hectares of the property for P655 million. The following year, the remaining portion was sold to KMC Realty Corp. on behalf of PureGold for P323 million.

Construction of the Robinsons Mall is set to be completed in the next few months and is slated to open by the end of the year, raising hopes that it will stir more commercial development in the city.

But Yu’s ally in the city council, Councilor Maria Alicia Elena Ariosa, filed a case before the Office of the Ombudsman in Mindanao against Co and 11 former members of the 13th City Council and the two buyers of a portion of the property accusing them of graft stemming from the sale.

Yu said that, because the property was awarded to the local government by the national government, it should only be used for public purposes.

With commercial development, Yu said, “there is irregularity, it is an illegal transaction” unless approved by Congress.

Yu said the title to the whole property must revert to the local government since the transactions were illegal.

“The recent action by Governor Yu sends a bad signal to future investors in the city. That is why I brand this act as anti-development,” Co said.

“Just imagine the hassle that this harassment suit would bring to Robinsons and PureGold. Their business masterplan in the city will ground to a halt,” Co added.

He further said the city councils authorized the sale transactions and the provincial board approved them.

The mayor said the governor should have raised the matter before Robinsons began its construction.

Co said this “unwarranted squabble” could douse cold water to the interests of property developers, like Ayala Land and SM Properties, to prospect the city.

City legal officer Georgina Ariosa-Lopez provided the Philippine Daily Inquirer a copy of the Original Certificate of Title No. 0-3,376, which Regional Trial Court Presiding Judge Harun Bagis decreed to be have been issued to the city government in 2006.

The title was eventually issued by the Land Registration Authority on Oct. 18, 2010, signed by Administrator Eulalio Diaz III.

Lopez noted that the city government first claimed the property before the court on January 16, 1967. In 2011, the provincial government, through then-Gov. Antonio Cerilles, filed its petition claiming the land parcel.

However, the court favored the city government, Lopez said.