John Hay developer offers to give up P1.42B dues
BAGUIO CITY—To protect the rights of homeowners and other so-called third parties displaced by the now-resolved dispute over Camp John Hay, its developer has made the startling offer to waive the P1.42 billion it is entitled to receive from the government.
In an April 4 letter to President Marcos, businessman Robert John Sobrepeña, chair of the Camp John Hay Development Corp. (CJHDevco), said his company was ready to abandon a fortune representing its accumulated rent payments to the government that was to be returned by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) in accordance to a 2015 arbitral ruling upheld last year by the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the arbitral ruling, which voided the 1996 lease contract between BCDA and CJHDevco, allowed the BCDA to take over last January all the 247 hectares developed by Sobrepeña’s company within the former American recreational base. In turn, BCDA was to return to CJHDevco the P1.4 billion in rentals it paid to the government.
As the BCDA took over the hotels, convention center, the golf course and other built-up sections of the former American base, it also evicted the occupants of high-end John Hay luxury homes and villas that CJHDevco had rented out under a 50-year lease.
CJHDevco lamented these homeowners were locked out of their residences without “due notice and without following due process,” and appealed to Mr. Marcos to spare these investors and homeowners, whose lease rights would only lapse in 2046.
But Sobrepeña said his offer to forego the P1.4 billion was only good for 30 days. He said his proposal would not affect CJHDevco’s “money claims,” which are pending with the Commission on Audit. He did not elaborate.
Homeowners’ appeal
The President earlier received an appeal from 55 aggrieved John Hay homeowners, including 15 South Korean nationals, in a Jan. 27 letter that sought a status quo while they pursue legal remedies.
Their lawyer, Moises Fortunato, told the Inquirer that his clients were contemplating a lawsuit against BCDA for their allegedly unlawful eviction and against CJHDevco, which leased them their homes.
However, the BCDA, in a news release in March, said it has worked out new deals with 95 percent of the homeowners.
But for Sobrepeña, the issue involving the homeowners and other third-party leases was no longer about money or concerns about legality, but “a matter of justice, compassion and human dignity.”
CJHDevco has yet to receive the P1.42 billion, which BCDA had deposited in an escrow account, due to government processing requirements. “Purely for the sake of peace, we offer to forego and waive CJHDevco’s P1.42-billion final arbitral award … on the condition that the government honors, respects sand protects the rights of Camp John Hay third parties,” said Sobrepeña.
Third parties
Counted among third parties are 189 condominium leaseholders at The Manor and 208 condominium owners at The Forest Lodge, the two hotels that BCDA has placed under the interim management of the business group owned by billionaire Manuel V. Pangilinan.
Also in the list are the leaseholders of 25 Country Homes, 56 occupants of Forest Cabins, lease owners of 45 estate houses and lots, 13 investors who secured 50-year leases over the multimillion-peso John Hay Log Cabins at the former Voice of America compound, and 38 leaseholders of lot pads.
Sobrepeña also sought protection for 2,500 golfers, who own shares in the John Hay Golf Club, which was replaced by an interim golf manager by BCDA in January.
“The lives of these homeowners, retirees and investors are in jeopardy because they trusted in the government’s promise to provide them with stable and a secure environment,” Sobrepeña said, after urging Mr. Marcos to shield them from BCDA’s legal action.
