By Antonio Montalvan II
IN an outspokenly worded open letter to the current president of Xavier University and published in a local daily, the XU high school alumnus Kerry Pacana concluded that selling XU’s Divisoria and Manresa campuses, in the process demolishing sound high-rise edifices, was a fire sale.
The term “fire sale” does not have positive connotations. Originating in reference to the sale of goods discounted heavily because of fire damage, it has become idiomatic meaning any sale at extremely and unreasonably discounted prices even when there was no fire.
A study done by a local reputable real estate expert who happens to be an alumna of XU drives home the point of Kerry Pacana on target. Gemma Pabayo Velasco of GPV Realty has been in the business for 27 years. Her attention on the issue of the planned sale of the Divisoria and Manresa campuses of XU was initially caught by XU’s own press release. The university had announced that Cebu Landmasters will buy about four hectares of the Divisoria campus for the price of P3.5 billion. XU will then use the proceeds to build a new campus in Manresa.
Knowing the local market forces of real estate properties in Cagayan de Oro, Velasco was flabbergasted. She sought an audience with the Archbishop of Cagayan de Oro, Msgr. Antonio Ledesma. The approach was propitious.
Few people know that the Ateneo de Cagayan was actually conveyed by the then Bishop of Cagayan Santiago Hayes to the Society of Jesus on Oct. 17, 1939. The conveyance included the donation by the Diocese of Cagayan to the Ateneo two parcels of land totaling about 3.4 hectares titled to the diocese. The rest of the Ateneo’s lands were later acquired and titled to the Ateneo.
If there is anyone therefore who can act as a gatekeeper of the original donor’s intent of the then Diocese of Cagayan, it is the present archbishop of Cagayan de Oro. It is his moral and ethical duty to safeguard the very purpose why the diocese had conveyed the Ateneo de Cagayan to the Society of Jesus and with it the donation of 3.4 hectares that at the time of the conveyance were titled to the Diocese of Cagayan after the Divisoria campus opened its doors in June 1935.
What was the diocese’s intent when it donated the Ateneo to the Jesuits? It is contained in the letter of Bishop Hayes addressed to the then Philippine Jesuit Mission superior John Hurley SJ which was then relayed to the superior general in Rome: “the education of as many as possible, especially those of lack of means.”
Any development therefore of the present XU Divisoria campus other than educational, much less of commercial development, violates the donor’s intent and purpose. The law can prohibit selling the campus for commercial development. Archbishop Antonio Ledesma stands solidly on that ground.
The XU administration had announced that the land development company Cebu Landmasters has pegged the buying price at P3.5 billion. It will then build high-rise edifices of malls, hotels, and condominiums on the Divisoria campus. Velasco’s study shows how that price is disturbingly a fire sale.
Current market valuations of real estate properties in and around Divisoria give us telling references. Along Corrales Avenue, current market values range from a low of P90,000 per square meter to a high of P120,000. Those along Pabayo Street are currently valued at P90,000 to P125,000. On nearby Apolinar Velez Street, properties can range from P90,000 to P130,000. Those along Santiago Hayes Street range from P80,000 to a high of P90,000. Those along Mortola Street at the eastern fringe of the XU campus range from a low of P60,000 to a high of P80,000 per square meter.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue’s commercial zonal value for the vicinity of the XU Divisoria campus currently rates at P90,000 to P100,000 per square meter. At the current market value, Velasco pegs the selling price of the XU Divisoria campus land alone to P5 billion, plus P2.2 billion for the cost of the edifices which by the way are far from rundown but are all state of the art high rise structures. Compare her valuation of P7.2 billion just for the Divisoria campus to Cebu Landmasters’ P3.5 billion. It is as worse as a closeout or zero inventory sale.
Not only that, Cebu Landmaster’s P3.5 billion will be paid out in a long period of eight to 10 years. It is a mind-boggling decision that finds neither rhyme nor reason. Building a “new state-of-the-art campus” in Manresa with that pittance is next to impossible.
Archbishop Ledesma had formally invited the members of the university’s Board of Trustees to a dialogue this last weekend to present Velasco’s report and use it as a conversation point. The trustees snubbed the archbishop’s invitation. That is another matter that boggles the mind – why the forward disobedience to the call of Jesuit superior general Fr. Arturo Sosa Abascal to widen the circles of consultation and discernment? When facts are hidden and consultations are deliberately limited only to “yes” people, something is afoot that invites instead the rejection of the plan. Ignatian discernment taught to generations of XU Ateneo’s alumni since 1933 is being corrupted to the core by its very mentors.
(Antonio J. Montalván II is a social anthropologist known for being vocal against corruption in government, human rights abuses, and matters involving indigenous peoples.)
