Ex-Baguio mayor not dropping suit vs BCDA
BAGUIO CITY—Former Baguio Mayor Mauricio Domogan on Wednesday said he was proceeding with a lawsuit challenging the takeover of the Camp John Hay Golf Club by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) to ensure the “security” of its membership shares.
Lawyer Federico Mandapat Jr., an official of the golf club’s board of governors, made the same declaration to the Inquirer on Tuesday after he, Domogan, and an engineer, Marciano Garcia, were banned from the golf course by the BCDA.
Asserting that “playing in the Camp John Hay Golf Course is a privilege and is not a matter of right,” the BCDA said in a public notice that all three club members and officials were no longer allowed to play there “until further notice,” citing a resolution passed by the BCDA’s board of directors. But as of Thursday, the BCDA had restored Garcia’s playing privileges.
At a Wednesday news conference, Domogan said they are among the 10 shareholders who petitioned a Baguio court in December for an injunction against an eviction notice they expected to receive from BCDA at the time, as well as civil damages of P1.5 million for each complainant (or initially a total of P15 million).
“The reason why we are banned is because we did not withdraw our names as plaintiffs in the case,” said Domogan, a lawyer and an avid golfer who is behind the annual Domogan Charity Golf Cup.
Last week, the BCDA began to take over properties put up at a 247-hectare leased area by the Camp John Hay Development Corp. (CJHDevco) after the Supreme Court last year restored a 2015 arbiter’s decision that nullified the 1996 contract because both parties violated the agreement.
‘Counterproductive’
The arbitral ruling required CJHDevco to surrender everything it built at Camp John Hay to the government, which, according to the BCDA, includes the Camp John Hay Golf Course. The developer is also entitled to a reimbursement of its P1.42-billion investment, according to the tribunal formed by the Philippine Dispute Resolution Center to resolve a contractual dispute between the BCDA and CJHDevco.
The high court also revived all of the notices to vacate issued in 2015 by a Baguio court, which was tasked to enforce the arbiter’s instructions. The BCDA took over the golf club on Jan. 6 and appointed a consortium to operate the golf course.
BCDA chair Hilario Paredes, in a statement, said: “We understand the club members’ predicament, and we fully sympathize with them; hence we are doing everything we can to soften the impact of the Arbitral Award on them. However, further litigating issues already fully raised with, and addressed by, the SC with finality is not only counterproductive but does not serve the best interest of the [Camp John Hay Golf Club] members, other golfers, the employees, staff, caddies and the general public.”
Validity
“We will be able to do more for them by working together instead of being divided and distracted by a rehashed case that excruciatingly attempts to revive a lost one. Hence, we continue to urge Messrs. Domogan and Mandapat to join us in this higher quest to serve others,” Paredes added.
Mandapat said he and the other petitioners had invited other club members to join their lawsuit last year, hoping to build a class action suit to preserve their membership certificates, which would expire in 2047.
That meant that their shares were supposed to last for 50 years from the time the club and the golf course were opened in the 1980s.
Many of the original petitioners have since withdrawn from the case, Mandapat said on Tuesday. The BCDA said it lifted the ban on Garcia after he backed out of the case.
Domogan said he was planning to amend the petition to assert the validity of the club membership certificates, saying the BCDA refused to honor them after the takeover.
He assured Paredes on Jan. 9 that he accepted the April 3, 2024, SC en banc ruling which reinstated the arbiter’s decision.
“What I am clamoring for is the security of the members … [chair] Paredes told me they will absorb [the caddies and the employees]. In our case, they do not recognize us as members, but we can enjoy the same privileges by paying our P5,000 monthly dues, but this is during the interim, which is six months renewable for another six months,” Domogan said.
“I know for a fact that the BCDA gave its consent when the Camp John Hay Golf Club was formed and had issued shares to members that are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission,” he said.
“BCDA had been given shares and received the benefits, so I don’t know why it is difficult for them to recognize [our membership certificates]. They need members to play [to keep the golf course operating],” he added.
In a text message on Thursday, Domogan said: “The most important course of action is for the BCDA to recognize the security of tenure of the members and absorb the employees and the caddies. This is not politics or [an attempt] to side with [CJHDevco chair Robert John] Sobrepeña, but this is what is right and fair.”
