Dispute In Subic
The much-publicized government takeover of a popular golf course at the Subic Bay Freeport amid allegations that it was arbitrarily carried out is giving this industrial and tourism hub an ugly face and is causing restiveness among investors and locators.
Last June 8, about 50 members of the Special Weapons and Tactics team and law enforcement division of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority swooped down on the premises of the Subic Bay Golf and Country Club to enforce the takeover of the property which was ordered by the SBMA through a resolution approved by its board of directors on the same day. The board, headed by chairman Feliciano Salonga and administrator/chief operating officer Armando Arreza, terminated the 50-year-old lease contract of the Taiwanese operator, the United International Group Development Corp.
Officials of the Taiwanese firm denounced the “unwarranted use of force” and the “illegal” confiscation of company properties and even of all personal belongings during the “Gestapo-like” takeover. They said it was in defiance of a status quo order dated Dec. 12, 2006 and a writ of preliminary injunction dated May 4, 2007 by the Regional Trial Court of Olongapo City.
The takeover of the 105-hectare golf course came as a shock to foreign and local investors, particularly the Taiwanese locators, especially because the UIGDC was among the 300 pioneer locators in Subic—of which only 40 are remaining. The company had invested over P1 billion to develop the 18-hole world-class golf course. It had an all-Filipino workforce of 300 employees.
The Taiwan Chamber of Commerce in Subic, chaired by Mrs. Susan Ho, also president of the Subic Bay Golf and Country Club, claimed the takeover was illegal since no case was filed against the UIGDC and “it violated every basic law of diplomacy.” Members of the chamber expressed fears that the sad fate of the UIGDC may also happen to them although they remain committed to making the Subic Bay Freeport an investment haven.
Justifying its drastic action, SBMA complained that the UIGDC had defaulted on its obligations, such as arrears in rental payments amounting to P16 million.
The aggrieved company, for its part, does not deny its unsettled obligations. But it has offered to settle the same based on a previous compromise agreement entered into by the SBMA and UIGDC in 2001.
It appears that the Taiwanese firm was listed seventh among locators with arrears in the records of the agency’s finance division. The company grumbles it is being “singled out and discriminated against.” It also accuses the SBMA of misleading the public on the real issue behind the takeover.
The real issue, UIGDC executives say, is why they were not accorded due process under existing laws. They claim their constitutional rights were violated. Since the takeover, Mrs. Ho and members of her family have been repeatedly harassed by SBMA officials, preventing them from entering the premises of the golf course.
Arreza has gone to the extent of asking Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan to cancel the special working visas of Mrs. Ho and other company incorporators.
But the aggrieved Taiwanese investors are far from giving up the fight. Aside from pursuing the case with the Olongapo RTC, they have filed administrative and criminal cases against Salonga, Arreza and 50 other SBMA personalities with the Office of the Ombudsman, the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission and the Commission on Human Rights.
Ambassador Hsin-Hsing Wu of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office has expressed concern over what he saw as unfair treatment of the UIGDC. In a letter to Trade Secretary Peter Favila, he asked why the golf course was taken over by the SBMA despite a court injunction.
Taiwanese investors decried that the high-handed actions taken by the SBMA against the UIGDC ran counter to the assurance of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, which she made at the recently concluded Asean ministerial meeting in Manila, that due process is sacrosanct in the country’s justice system.
Fearing that the dispute between SBMA and UIGDC will drag on, Taiwanese investors have appealed to the President to intervene in a bid to strike an acceptable solution.
Upset over what they felt was mishandling of the case, a number of congressmen have sought a congressional inquiry into the controversy. Mindoro Oriental Rep. Rodolfo Valencia warned that arbitrary government actions like this only dissuade foreign investors from doing business in the Philippines.
Leyte Rep. Andres Salvacion Jr. lambasted the SBMA for disregarding court orders, saying nothing in the SBMA charter puts the agency beyond court jurisprudence. “The SBMA charter states that the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, or any free port zone in the country for that matter, is a separate customs territory, but not an independent state as what some SBMA officials seem to believe,” said Salvacion, a former customs official.
* * *
The plan of the House of Representatives to shelve the Oct. 29 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections is, for all intents and purposes, already dead. It has been overtaken by events.
As of this writing, the House bill postponing the twin polls to the second Monday of October 2009 has not yet been approved on third and final reading. The Senate, for its part, seems indifferent to the proposal. No senator has filed a counterpart bill so there is no development on this proposal in the Senate.
Meanwhile, preparations for the village and youth polls by the Commission on Elections are on high gear. From Sept. 14 to 19, Comelec will start accepting certificates of candidacy from aspirants.
Last month, the poll body completed the registration of new Barangay and SK voters for which about P130 million was spent.
At a public hearing of the Senate finance committee on the proposed 2008 general appropriations bill, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. announced that his department has already released to the Comelec the P2- billion funding for the holding of the Barangay-SK polls.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno have already said Malacañang’s was against deferring the elections since they had already been deferred five times and barangay and SK officials have long been overstaying in their jobs.
With this turn of events, it would be useless to proceed with deliberations on the House bill delaying the polls for two more years. Senate President Manuel Villar has called for an all-senators caucus to get their consensus on the House proposal. But the outcome of the caucus is predictable. The unpopular bill is destined for the archives.
Villar says they could not disregard the House bill just like that out of courtesy to the congressmen who, he says, are attuned to what is happening in the grassroots. The Senate head is just being polite and diplomatic. He already knows of the prevailing sentiments among the senators against the passage of the measure.
The holding of elections will rejuvenate governance at the village and youth levels because promising, deserving leaders will get a chance to serve the community while the non-performing and corrupt officials will be eliminated.
The poll postponement bill should be thrown away because it is being pushed by congressmen for a selfish reason, that is they are scared of being asked for campaign contributions by candidates for Barangay and SK posts. They want to please themselves through this bill at the expense of the people’s welfare.
Fel Maragay - Manila Standard Today
Last June 8, about 50 members of the Special Weapons and Tactics team and law enforcement division of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority swooped down on the premises of the Subic Bay Golf and Country Club to enforce the takeover of the property which was ordered by the SBMA through a resolution approved by its board of directors on the same day. The board, headed by chairman Feliciano Salonga and administrator/chief operating officer Armando Arreza, terminated the 50-year-old lease contract of the Taiwanese operator, the United International Group Development Corp.
Officials of the Taiwanese firm denounced the “unwarranted use of force” and the “illegal” confiscation of company properties and even of all personal belongings during the “Gestapo-like” takeover. They said it was in defiance of a status quo order dated Dec. 12, 2006 and a writ of preliminary injunction dated May 4, 2007 by the Regional Trial Court of Olongapo City.
The takeover of the 105-hectare golf course came as a shock to foreign and local investors, particularly the Taiwanese locators, especially because the UIGDC was among the 300 pioneer locators in Subic—of which only 40 are remaining. The company had invested over P1 billion to develop the 18-hole world-class golf course. It had an all-Filipino workforce of 300 employees.
The Taiwan Chamber of Commerce in Subic, chaired by Mrs. Susan Ho, also president of the Subic Bay Golf and Country Club, claimed the takeover was illegal since no case was filed against the UIGDC and “it violated every basic law of diplomacy.” Members of the chamber expressed fears that the sad fate of the UIGDC may also happen to them although they remain committed to making the Subic Bay Freeport an investment haven.
Justifying its drastic action, SBMA complained that the UIGDC had defaulted on its obligations, such as arrears in rental payments amounting to P16 million.
The aggrieved company, for its part, does not deny its unsettled obligations. But it has offered to settle the same based on a previous compromise agreement entered into by the SBMA and UIGDC in 2001.
It appears that the Taiwanese firm was listed seventh among locators with arrears in the records of the agency’s finance division. The company grumbles it is being “singled out and discriminated against.” It also accuses the SBMA of misleading the public on the real issue behind the takeover.
The real issue, UIGDC executives say, is why they were not accorded due process under existing laws. They claim their constitutional rights were violated. Since the takeover, Mrs. Ho and members of her family have been repeatedly harassed by SBMA officials, preventing them from entering the premises of the golf course.
Arreza has gone to the extent of asking Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan to cancel the special working visas of Mrs. Ho and other company incorporators.
But the aggrieved Taiwanese investors are far from giving up the fight. Aside from pursuing the case with the Olongapo RTC, they have filed administrative and criminal cases against Salonga, Arreza and 50 other SBMA personalities with the Office of the Ombudsman, the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission and the Commission on Human Rights.
Ambassador Hsin-Hsing Wu of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office has expressed concern over what he saw as unfair treatment of the UIGDC. In a letter to Trade Secretary Peter Favila, he asked why the golf course was taken over by the SBMA despite a court injunction.
Taiwanese investors decried that the high-handed actions taken by the SBMA against the UIGDC ran counter to the assurance of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, which she made at the recently concluded Asean ministerial meeting in Manila, that due process is sacrosanct in the country’s justice system.
Fearing that the dispute between SBMA and UIGDC will drag on, Taiwanese investors have appealed to the President to intervene in a bid to strike an acceptable solution.
Upset over what they felt was mishandling of the case, a number of congressmen have sought a congressional inquiry into the controversy. Mindoro Oriental Rep. Rodolfo Valencia warned that arbitrary government actions like this only dissuade foreign investors from doing business in the Philippines.
Leyte Rep. Andres Salvacion Jr. lambasted the SBMA for disregarding court orders, saying nothing in the SBMA charter puts the agency beyond court jurisprudence. “The SBMA charter states that the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, or any free port zone in the country for that matter, is a separate customs territory, but not an independent state as what some SBMA officials seem to believe,” said Salvacion, a former customs official.
* * *
The plan of the House of Representatives to shelve the Oct. 29 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections is, for all intents and purposes, already dead. It has been overtaken by events.
As of this writing, the House bill postponing the twin polls to the second Monday of October 2009 has not yet been approved on third and final reading. The Senate, for its part, seems indifferent to the proposal. No senator has filed a counterpart bill so there is no development on this proposal in the Senate.
Meanwhile, preparations for the village and youth polls by the Commission on Elections are on high gear. From Sept. 14 to 19, Comelec will start accepting certificates of candidacy from aspirants.
Last month, the poll body completed the registration of new Barangay and SK voters for which about P130 million was spent.
At a public hearing of the Senate finance committee on the proposed 2008 general appropriations bill, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. announced that his department has already released to the Comelec the P2- billion funding for the holding of the Barangay-SK polls.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno have already said Malacañang’s was against deferring the elections since they had already been deferred five times and barangay and SK officials have long been overstaying in their jobs.
With this turn of events, it would be useless to proceed with deliberations on the House bill delaying the polls for two more years. Senate President Manuel Villar has called for an all-senators caucus to get their consensus on the House proposal. But the outcome of the caucus is predictable. The unpopular bill is destined for the archives.
Villar says they could not disregard the House bill just like that out of courtesy to the congressmen who, he says, are attuned to what is happening in the grassroots. The Senate head is just being polite and diplomatic. He already knows of the prevailing sentiments among the senators against the passage of the measure.
The holding of elections will rejuvenate governance at the village and youth levels because promising, deserving leaders will get a chance to serve the community while the non-performing and corrupt officials will be eliminated.
The poll postponement bill should be thrown away because it is being pushed by congressmen for a selfish reason, that is they are scared of being asked for campaign contributions by candidates for Barangay and SK posts. They want to please themselves through this bill at the expense of the people’s welfare.
Fel Maragay - Manila Standard Today
posted by OlongapoCity Zambales at
5:08 PM
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