By LITO RULONA with NITZ ARANCON
Correspondents .
COUNCILOR Teodulfo Lao Jr. is moving for a city hall takeover of Agora market and terminal following a Supreme Court decision which, he said, voided the build-operate-transfer scheme contract of the See family-owned Mega Integrated Agro-Livestock Farm Corp. with the local government.
Lao announced this on Monday after he secured a copy of the SC ruling on the case he and other politicians filed about a decade ago that questioned the 25-year contract. The contract allowed the Sees to turn the public market into what is now the “Market City” and control it along with the adjacent terminal.
Lao said the SC reversed a regional court’s 2009 resolution and order on the case filed in 2007 to nullify the contract for the redevelopment of the market and terminal in Lapasan, including all city ordinances and resolutions, under a BOT scheme.
But the denial of the motion for an issuance of a temporary restraining order and/or writ of preliminary prohibitory injunction with damages was affirmed.
The SC also ordered that the case be remanded to the Regional Trial Court of origin for further proceedings.
The SC decision was contained in a 20-page document signed by Associate Justice Marvic Leonen and concurred by Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr. on June 13, 2018.
Lao said he learned about it from Councilor Enrico Salcedo, and then the city council was furnished a copy of the ruling on Friday.
The controversial deal was made by the then mayor Constantino Jaraula on behalf of city hall and Mega Farm president Erwin See.
On May 19, 2007, the city council passed City Ordinance 10557-2007 that approved See’s unsolicited proposal “for the redevelopment of Agora Complex into a Modern Integrated Terminal, Public Market and Vegetable Landing Area” under a build-operate-transfer scheme.
Lao said he and his group questioned the contract in that it was signed without an authority from the city council. He said it was a case of “the cart being ahead of the horse” in that the contract was ratified by the city council or only after it was already signed.
He said he recalled Councilor Zaldy Ocon tearing his copy of the contract to pieces before the city council as a political statement against the controversial agreement between city hall and Mega Farm.
“The SC reversed it, pabor karon sa amoa. In other words, the market and terminal would now returned to the city government so that the city government could manage the Agora complex,” Lao said.
Lao said the City Economic Enterprise Department (CEED) should prepare to take over. He said the City Legal Office should immediately submit a recommendation on how to handle the situation pertaining to the market and terminal’s operations.
“That would be an additional income for the coffers of the city government,” he said.
Lao however said he was anticipating that Mega Farm would ask the SC to reconsider its decision.
Disclaimer
Mindanao Gold Star Daily holds the copyrights of all articles and photos in perpetuity. Any unauthorized reproduction in any platform, electronic and hardcopy, shall be liable for copyright infringement under the Intellectual Property Rights Law of the Philippines.
