Objective assessment

News leaked out of the Department of Justice recently that should give a sigh of relief to a major European contractor.

According to DOJ sources, a legal opinion issued by former Justice Secretary Alberto Agra concerning a multi-billion project proposed by the said European contractor has been upheld by the present DOJ leadership.

If the reports are true, then this development is both surprising as it is welcome. That proposal by the European contractor, it will be recalled, came under heavy fire from a rival outfit from its home country. It was portrayed as a “midnight deal” and the soundness of the proposal was questioned by various sectors.

But now, the DOJ has upheld its legality. Ergo, the European contractor’s project may now proceed to implementation stage.

There are two prevailing views regarding this development. One is that President Aquino probably likes the project himself. The second is that the present administration is actually capable of making “objective assessment” of major project proposals that are now being reviewed.

We hope the second bit of speculation proves correct. And this development should augur well for the joint venture proposal submitted by the Harbour Centre Port Terminal, Inc. (HCPTI) to the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) for the operation of the bulk cargo terminals in the said facility.

There has been a clamor for this joint venture because this is one of those rare cases where the government actually stands to gain much from a deal with the private sector.

The proposed joint venture is expected to bring in a minimum guaranteed revenue of some $32 million to the government over a period of 25 years – more than twice what the SBMA is merely hoping it could make under the current arrangements with the present operators of the port.

The icing in the cake is a commitment on the part of Harbor to put in some P6 billion for the development of the bulk cargo terminal of Subic. That kind of investment should further enhance the facility’s ability to compete in the world market.

The joint venture proposal was subjected to the same ordeal in media that the earlier-mentioned European contractor went through. It was similarly labelled a “midnight deal”, never mind that it was going through the normal, regular processes for unsolicited proposals since last year.

Last we heard, the SBMA was asking for a OGCC legal opinion on this proposal. The joint venture should perform better in an objective assessment than the proposal of the European contractor.

Here is one good reason why such objective performance would augur well for the joint venture: No public money will be spent on the joint venture.

Here, the private sector puts in the money, operates the facility and recovers its investments through legitimate revenues which it will generously share with the government on a guaranteed-minimum-revenue-share basis.

That means no matter how business goes in a given year, there is a commitment that Harbour Centre has to fulfill - deliver a specific amount of money to the coffers of government no matter what.

This is a feature which may not have been considered in the early years of the operation of the Subic bulk cargo terminal. We understand that the present arrangement is “pay when and if able”. The joint venture proposal says “pay no matter what”. That is a definite advantage to the government which often finds itself at an inferior position in the bargaining table with the private sector.

The Subic joint venture is a showcase for the President’s clearly stated economic policy of public-private partnership.

The aggrieved party

The viewing public is observing with keen interest the long drawn out battle between broadcasting network ABS-CBN and one of its biggest talents, Willie Revillame.

And there is one question foremost on the minds of these observers. And that is, who is the aggrieved party between the two?

Revillame was suspended last May from his highly rated noontime show when he threatened ABS-CBN management that he would resign if DZMM’s Jobert Sucaldito, who Revillame claimed constantly made personal attacks against him on air, is not taken out by the station.

Revillame’s contract with ABS-CBN ends Sept. 10, 2011 but he now wants a judicial rescission of his contract with the network.

In his complaint against ABS-CBN, he said the network breached the provisions of their contract when it suspended him without pay, cancelled his show Wowowee unilaterally, and downgraded his program from three hours daily to just one hour weekly.

Revillame said ABS-CBN also placed him on probation without assurance of reinstatement, and also downgraded his appearance from a “live” to a “pre-recorded” program, which constitutes censorship and prior restraint. His contract provided for a live telecast not pre-recorded, he said.

Because of the show’s cancellation and downgrading, Revillame said he will be deprived of his earning from “in-show” product endorsements which has become part of his compensation package.

Revillame’s legal counsel Leonard De Vera said that the suspension without pay and the placing under probation are some of the “valid grounds” for him to terminate the contract because they were not provided for in the agreement

Revillame’s lawyers said ABS-CBN forced him to go to court because it wanted to tie him to the contract until its expiration, despite the fact that ABS-CBN already rescinded the same when it unilaterally cancelled Wowowee.

Claiming he is a victim of injustice and undeserved humiliation, he has also sued ABS-CBN for damages amounting to at least P11.5 million.

Titling system under attack

The credibility of our land titling system is now under attack.

And this credibility will continue to erode unless the controversy surrounding the 34-hectare Manotok property in Quezon City is settled once and for all.

The case began in 1988 when a fire hit the QC Hall and gutted the office and records of the Register of Deeds. Fortunately, the Manotok family, which has owned the land since 1920s, was able to have the original title reconstituted.

Eight years after the fire, however, realtor Teresita Barque-Hernandez asked the Land Registration Authority to give her a reconstituted title to the same property and, for some reason, the LRA approved her application contrary to the principles of the Torrens titling system.

This opened the floodgates for other claims. Spouses Felicitas and Rosendo Manahan intervened in 2006, while administrative questions on LRA’s actions were being discussed in the Supreme Court.

Finally, in 2008, the SC said Barque-Hernandez’s claim appeared to be dubious and then proceeded to establish the chain of titles that would establish ownership of the Manotok Compound, the very situation that the Torrens titling system aimed to avoid.

The SC now appears to be tackling the arguments of Manahan couple, who did not question the Manotok’s continued possession of the land for several generations but claimed that the Manotok’s original acquisition of the land was invalid because they did not have a deed of conveyance.

When the Manotoks found a copy of their deed of conveyance at the National Archives, the Manahans claimed that the document was fake even though the copy was properly certified.

Some sectors are now saying that if the SC refuses to accept as evidence a copy of a document in the care of the National Archives, what is the use of spending taxpayers’ money to maintain a universally-recognized archival institution?

The Manotok Compound is said to be part of the Pieded Estate which is one of the friar lands that the government bought from Spanish religious orders after the Philippine Revolution of 1896. The real danger in this case, some claim, is its adverse impact on properties that trace their titles to these friar lands, covering more than 145,000 hectares.

And because some of these are under mortgage, the banking system is starting to get worried.

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