CDC files P45-M counterclaim vs Tarlac landfill operator
ANGELES CITY—The Clark Development Corporation (CDC), through the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC), has filed a P45-million counterclaim against the operator of the 100-hectare sanitary landfill inside the New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac.
The counterclaim against the German-led Metro Clark Waste Management Corporation (MCWMC) stemmed from the civil suit filed by the latter last May against CDC and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) before the Regional Trial Court Branch 114 in Angeles City.
The MCWMC has sought to amend the Contract for Services (CfS) entered into by its parent company, a German consortium, and the CDC in 1999. The landfill operator asked the court to include “automatic renewal” of the contract for another 25 years in the CfS.
The 25-year contract signed by the CDC and MCWMC’s predecessor (Ingenieuburo Birkhann+Nolte GmbH and Heers & Brockstedt GmbH & Co. Kg represented by BN Consultants Philippines Inc.) on Oct. 6, 1999 that would expire this Sunday.
The CDC and the BCDA were set on serving a closure order against MCWMC at the sanitary landfill area located at Sitio Kalangitan, Barangay Cutcut II village in Capas on the date of the contract’s expiry.
In the civil case, MCWMC is seeking from the CDC and BCDA some P101 million in damages, attorney’s fees and litigation cost.
Damages
In its counterclaims, the CDC seeks P20 million in moral and exemplary damages and P25 million in attorney’s fees, which is 25 percent of the total claim plus cost of suit.
Under Article XIII of the CfS, the German consortium and the CDC led then by its president, Rufo Colayco, agreed that any litigation connected with the contract will be filed in a court in this city and that the attorney’s fees will be 25 percent of the claimed amount and cost of suit.
In the civil case, the MCWMC also claims that its CfS with the CDC has an implied lease component, wherein the royalty it pays to the state-owned firm serves as rental fee.
But in its counter affidavit with compulsory counterclaims, the CDC said the contract does not contain any provision on the lease of any CDC property or the automatic renewal of its fixed 25-year term.
It said the contract only stipulated that the CDC would turn over a 100-ha property to the German consortium where the latter would construct and operate an integrated waste management center with sanitary landfill equipped with leachate control and disposal system and gas management.
In the contract, the landfill operator is obligated to pay the CDC $1.50 per ton of non-hazardous solid waste collected outside of Clark as the state-owned firm’s share from the waste disposal tipping
fee.
Aside from providing the 100-ha land area, the CDC is also obligated under the contract to provide power, telecommunication and water lines, and a reasonable road access to the upland landfill area.
The MCWMC contends in the civil suit that the contract is covered by the Foreign Investors’ Lease Act (Republic Act No. 7652), which allows foreign companies to lease lands up to 50 years and renewable for another 25 years; and by the Executive Order No. 429, series 1997 that gives the same privilege to Filipino investors.
The CDC, on the other hand, maintains that its contract for service with the German consortium is covered by the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Law, as certified by the Office of the President in November 2000, signed by then Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora.
The BOT Law provides fixed terms for contracts to operate facilities. INQ
