Favored few

With the way the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) has been picking fights with some of the country’s biggest businesses, some sectors cannot help but ask whether BCDA has been playing favorites.

In his bid to oust SM from what he claims to still be BCDA property (the land where SM’s newest mall SM Aura is located), BCDA head Arnel Paciano Casanova is now being perceived to be protecting another group’s interest, one that stands to gain if the move to kick SM out succeeds.

Despite a deed of conveyance executed by BCDA in favor of the Taguig city government, which in turn bidded out the use of the land with SM as the eventual winner, Casanova still claims that SM should pay locator fees to BCDA “so as not to deprive our Armed Forces of funds for its modernization.”

Classic divide and conquer strategy. By dividing public opinion (mall vs. Armed Forces modernization), Casanova is steering away from the real issues – that BCDA is no longer the owner of the property which it conveyed without restrictions, and therefore cannot say that what Taguig city did in bidding out the use of the land is wrong.

Anyway, we are no longer surprised with what is perceived as BCDA’s anti-business stance. 

BCDA is still locked in a long-running dispute with its developer-partner in Camp John Hay [CJH] in Baguio. In this fight, Casanova has made no bones about wanting to oust Sobrepena-led CJH Development Corp. [CJHDC] and take over the public-private partnership [PPP] project, despite court-ordered arbitration and an injunction prohibiting any sort of takeover or awarding the project to a new partner.

 Sources revealed that BCDA has been withholding permits to build and operate, among other licenses to John Hay locators, making it very, very difficult for CJHDC to do business and make money at that.

 The standoff over withheld permits induced mayor Mauricio Domogan to invoke last week Baguio’s right to issue permits. Domogan has also called on BCDA to lay off barangays and schools excluded from the CJH reservation after BCDA stopped construction of a school building in Barangay Hillside.

If BCDA and Casanova, as public sector partners of CJHDC in the development of Camp John Hay, really want to act as sincere partners by making the environment for doing business conducive for its private sector partner, then why are they making life very difficult for Sobrepena’s group. In fact, recently, the Bureau of Immigration forced Sobrepeña off a plane bound for the United States without an HDO [hold departure order] and detained him until it left, in flagrant violation of Sobrepena’s constitutional right to travel and freedom from arbitrary detention.

Again, the perception is BCDA and Casanova want CJHDC out of John Hay so that they can deliver it to another favored group.

Sta. Lucia’s new venture

We have just learned that the Sta. Lucia group, via its property development arm Sta. Lucia Land, has formed a new subsidiary to focus on construction of houses for the nearly one million lot buyers of the group’s numerous projects nationwide.

Sta. Lucia Homes aims to build communities in the group’s various subdivision projects, ranging from low-end to high-end subdivisions, with focus in areas like Pangasinan, Quezon, Antipolo, Bulacan, Laguna, Cavite, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Iloilo, and Bacolod.

The company prioritizes existing lot buyers with fully paid lots, who can then apply for construction loans.

Sta. Lucia has so far entered into several ventures with property owners to penetrate more areas outside Metro Manila. Its project Colinas Verdes in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan is a joint venture with Araneta Properties. It has also partnered with the Yulo family for Carmel Ridge and Morning Fields at Carmeltown in Calamba and Canlubang. Another project is a partnership with the Jaka group’s South Cavite Land for Nueva Vida at Mesilo.

Company officials said that by partnering with Sta. Lucia, lot owners are protected from increases in prices of cement and steel as compared with working with individual contractors to construct the houses.

Not so hidden agenda

• Smart Communications and DDB DM9 group recently bagged the Grand Prix Lion in Cannes. This is also the first grand prix for the Philippines in the history of Cannes, according to DDB Philippines group chairman Gil Chua.

• The recent Asean Law Association (ALA) Philippines concert featured Dr. Jose Artemio Panganiban III, a summa cum laude graduate of the UP School of Music. The concert opened with the rendering of the Philippine National Anthem and the Asean Law Association (ALA) Anthem, performed flawlessly a capella by the Supreme Court choir.  Dr. Panganiban then gave the audience an unforgettable performance, with a short Chopin Nocturne and three compositions by Franz Liszt.  Soprano Lara Maigue, on the other hand, fulfilled all expectations particularly on the high notes and “recitativos” of her signature song “Sa Kabukiran”, and  Abelardo’s  “Mutya ng Pasig”.  She then regaled the audience with expressive lyrical simplicity in the popular “Mio Babbino Caro” of “Puccini”, ALA Philippines head Avelino Cruz shared with us.  The Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO) having warmed up with a rendition of Rossini’s “Barber of Seville”, then teamed up with Dr. Panganiban for a performance of Rachmaninoff’s most popular and beloved concerto.  The foundation day concert of ALA Philippines was graced by legal luminaries here, led by no less than Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, and from our ASEAN neighboring countries.

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