House to SBMA: Explain takeover of golf course

The House of Representatives oversight committee has asked Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Administrator Armand Arreza to give the SBMA’s side on the allegations that it has showed undue favor to a Korean group in its bid to take over the Subic Bay Golf Club (SBGC) whose former operator, a group of Taiwanese investors, were purportedly forcibly ejected from the recreational facility located in the former US Naval base in Olongapo City, Zambales province.

On the first day Friday last week of the House inquiry into the complaints raised by the Taiwanese Universal International Group (UIG) over the alleged forcible take over by the Korean group of the golf course located inside the Subic Freeport, which it had been operating, Arreza did not show up.

Northern Samar Rep. Emil Ong instigated the House probe when he warned in a privilege speech that the legitimate complaints aired by UIG officials, led by Susan Ho, could seriously threaten trade relations between the Philippines and Taiwan.

“I believe Administrator Arreza has a lot of explaining to do. We have invited him to show up in the next hearing,” Ong said.

In last week’s hearing, lawmakers led by Ong and Makati City Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr. were informed that Arreza had been negotiating to convey to a group of South Koreans the right to operate the golf course.

Zambales province Rep. Mitos Magsaysay said the move by the SBMA to oust UIG from the golf course, where it had invested at least P1 billion, was illegal, as she pointed to the way the SBMA conducted the eviction of the firm from the recreational facility which she said was done with “unusual dispatch.”

She further said while the UIG had been having difficulty in paying its arrears on the golf course’s rent, its unpaid bill is dwarfed by the amount of unpaid rent of a number of other locators in the Freeport and therefore the SBMA’s apparent singling out of the Taiwanese firm was “odd.”

Apparently stung by Magsaysay’s comment, SBMA Chairman Feliciano Salonga snapped at the oversight panel for airing accusations that he said are not backed by documentary evidence.

Salonga also denied accusations the SBMA had initiated deportation proceedings against Ho and her son, Jack Ho, who filed a case before the Court of Appeals against the SBMA in a bid to recover their right to operate the SBGC.

But SBMA lawyer Ramon Agregado admitted to the House panel that the SBMA had sent a notice to the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID) regarding the expiration of the special working visas issued to the Hos and their Taiwanese co-investors.

Agregardo’s admission earned Salonga and the SBMA a dressing down from Locsin and the other members of the oversight committee, describing the move as a “low blow.”

“It is really a cheap shot to deport foreign investors just to take them away from the court in order not to meet them face to face. That is not the proper way to deal with investors,” Locsin said.

Magsaysay warned that the “unlawful and uncalled for” act by the SBMA against the Taiwanese investors may drive away potential investors in the Subic Bay Freeport.

According to Ong, the SBMA officials showed arrogance, abuse and violation of human rights when it did not allow the UIG to settle its unpaid obligations and immediately took over the golf course.

Locsin afterward asked the SBMA to withdraw its request with the BID for the deportation of the Ho family.

Meanwhile, a highly placed source in Congress told of an alleged attempt by a ranking official of the lower chamber to stop the oversight panel from looking into the alleged illegal takeover of the SBGC by the Korean group in purported cahoots with the SBMA.

The source said the House official’s move to block the probe is one reason the oversight panel had earlier deferred its conduct of hearings into the issue. By Charlie V. Manalo - Daily Tribune