ARNEL CASANOVA FACES PERJURY COMPLAINT

SUNSTAR

By Ma. Elena Catajan

Sunday, June 17, 2012

BASES Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) president Arnel Casanova is facing a perjury case over statements made against Camp John Hay developer, CJH Development Corporation (CJHDevCo).

Casanova was charged with perjury Thursday afternoon at the Manila Prosecutor's office, for allegedly falsely stating under oath in a complaint filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ) that CJHDevCo concealed from BCDA properties transferred to government agency in 2010 representing payments of CJHDEVCO's rental obligations. The identified properties were allegedly the subject of a prior sale.

CJHDevCo legal Counsel Frank Chavez said, "Mr. Casanova has been very arrogant in his pronouncements that he is ready for any suit that might be filed against him in this dispute with CJHDevCo since it comes with the job. Well, Mr. Casanova, as a public official, holding the highest office in the BCDA, should also exercise due diligence in the exercise of his authority."

Chavez also said CJHDevCo remains steadfast in its conviction to prosecute this perjury case against Casanova up to the very end.

"CJHDevCo will proceed against Mr. Casanova to the fullest extent of the law for the falsehoods he has made before the DOJ thru his baseless complaint of an alleged double sale to BCDA," Chavez said.

 

Manuel Ubarra Jr., CJHDevCo president for litigation, stated in the complaint that "Casanova had the opportunity to verify that no prior sale was in existence at the time CJHDEVCO transferred the property in question to BCDA in 2010. He personally spoke with the lawyer of the alleged prior buyer, which lawyer is, in fact, a close friend of Mr. Casanova. Talks between Mr. Casanova and the lawyer of the supposed first buyer and documents made available to Mr. Casanova in those talks, could not have led to any other conclusion other than the fact that the said buyer abandoned his interest in the property way back in 2001, or 10 years before the property in question was transferred to BCDA."

Casanova perjured himself when he filed an estafa complaint against officials of CJHDevCo before Senior State Prosecutor Philip Kimpo at the DOJ last March.

Casanova said that due to the false pretenses of CJHDevCo officers, the BCDA was deceived and induced to enter into an agreement dated May 27, 2010 with the CJHDevCo wherein the latter transferred to BCDA ownership and possession of five log homes in Camp John Hay in exchange for the condonation of its outstanding obligation with BCDA.

Chavez said, "What puts the final nail in the coffin of Mr. Casanova, so to speak, is the fact that even if he already knew fully well that the alleged buyer had abandoned all interest in the subject property, he still proceeded to maliciously file a complaint for fraud allegedly committed by CJHDevCo in the transfer of the said property to BCDA."

Published in the Sun.Star Baguio newspaper on June 18, 2012.

PERJURY RAPS FILED AGAINST BCDA’S CASANOVA

        

ARNEL CASANOVA CHARGED FOR PERJURY

Camp John Hay developer, CJH Development Corporation (CJHDevCo), today filed a criminal case for Perjury against Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) President Arnel Casanova, at the Prosecutor’s Office of the City of Manila.

         In a Complaint-Affidavit executed in behalf of CJHDevCo, Atty. Manuel T. Ubarra, Jr., CJHDevCo Vice President for Litigation, charged Mr. Casanova with perjury for falsely stating under oath in a complaint filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ) that CJHDevCo allegedly concealed from BCDA that a property transferred to the latter in 2010 in payment of CJHDEVCO’s rental obligations was subject of a prior sale, and on that basis, fraud was supposedly committed against BCDA.

“Mr. Casanova had the opportunity to verify that no prior sale was in existence at the time CJHDEVCO transferred the property in question to BCDA in 2010.  He personally spoke with the lawyer of the alleged prior buyer, which lawyer is, in fact, a close friend of Mr. Casanova.  Talks between Mr. Casanova and the lawyer of the supposed first buyer and documents made available to Mr. Casanova in those talks, could not have led to any other conclusion other than the fact that the said buyer abandoned his interest in the property way back in 2001, or 10 years before the property in question was transferred to BCDA,” stated Atty. Frank Chavez, CJHDevCo Legal Counsel.

“What puts the final nail in the coffin of Mr. Casanova, so to speak, is the fact that even if he already knew fully-well that the alleged buyer had abandoned all interest in the subject property, he still proceeded to maliciously file a complaint for fraud allegedly committed by CJHDevCo in the transfer of the said property to BCDA,” Atty. Chavez added.  “Unfortunately, for Mr. Casanova, because of the malicious filing of the complaint by BCDA, the alleged prior submitted before the DOJ his very own sworn personal statement that he had abandoned all interest in the property way back 2001, a fact which confirms the position of CJHDevCo”, Atty. Chavez said.

Atty. Chavez further added, “Mr. Casanova has been very arrogant in his pronouncements that he is ready for any suit that might be filed against him in this dispute with CJHDevCo since it comes with the job.  Well, Mr. Casanova, as a public official, holding the highest office in the BCDA, should also exercise due diligence in the exercise of his authority, to ensure that the reputations of private citizens, who are supposedly his “bosses”, following the tone of President Aquino, are not unduly besmirched because he did not do his homework completely.”

Atty. Chavez also said that CJHDevCo remains steadfast in its conviction to prosecute this Perjury case against Mr. Casanova up to the very end.  “CJHDevCo will proceed against Mr. Casanova to the fullest extent of the law for the falsehoods he has made before the DOJ thru his baseless complaint of an alleged double sale to BCDA”, said Atty. Chavez.  “It does not matter one bit even if this Perjury case takes a long time to resolve and even if Mr. Casanova is out of government service, we will continue to prosecute this case, to right the wrong done by Mr. Casanova in maliciously maligning CJHDevCo through a clearly baseless suit,” said Atty. Chavez.

BCDA CEO ARNEL CASANOVA FACES PERJURY CHARGE

by Jorge Cariño, ABS-CBN News

Posted at 06/14/2012 7:15 PM | Updated as of 06/14/2012 7:15 PM

MANILA, Philippines - A perjury complaint has been filed by the developer of Camp John Hay in Baguio City against the president and chief executive officer of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) before the Office of the City Prosecutor in Manila.

Manuel Ubarra Jr., vice president for litigation of the Camp John Hay Development Corporation (CJHDevCo), sued BCDA's Arnel Paciano Casanova for perjury because Casanova allegedly accused CJHDevCo officials of using false pretenses to deceive and induce the agency to enter into a "dacion en pago" agreement on May 27, 2011, in order to settle its outstanding obligation with BCDA.

The CJHDevCo official accused Casanova of perjuring himself when he filed an estafa complaint against officials of CJHDevCo before Senior State Prosecutor Philip Kimpo at the Department of Justice last March.

Casanova claimed that due to the false pretenses of CJHDevCo officers, the BCDA was deceived and induced to enter into an agreement dated May 27 2010 with the CJHDevCo wherein the latter transferred to BCDA ownership and possession of 5 log homes in Camp John Hay in exchange for the condonation of its outstanding obligation with BCDA.

Casanova claimed the government agency would never have given its consent to and entered into the agreement had it known that one of the log homes, Log Home No. 9, had been previously sold in 1999 by CJHDevCo to another person identified as Wilson Sy.

"He (Mr. Casanova) had the opportunity to verify that no prior sale was in existence at the time CJHDevCo transferred the property in question to BCDA in 2010 and yet he didn't do it" said former Solicitor General Frank Chavez, who accompanied Ubarra in filing the complaint.

He said the case filed Thursday afternoon before the City Prosecutor's Office of Manila is just a first of several cases that they will file against the BCDA president.

They will try to seek damages in another case that will be filed before the court.

BCDA HARASSMENT CAUSED DEVELOPER TO LOSE P11.5 BILLION

MANILA TIMES Published : Thursday, June 07, 2012



MORE than P11.5 billion in projected earnings were lost to Camp John Hay Development Corp. (CJH DevCo) in the last five years after they were deprived of needed business permits, licenses and clearances by the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) which gave them the go-ahead to develop Camp John Hay.

CJH DevCo spokesman Manuel Ubarra disclosed to the media on Wednesday that the various breaches of BCDA to its contract have sent chilling effect to investors.

“They are doing everything to give us a hard time,” Ubarra said, referring to the leadership of incumbent BCDA President Arnel Casanova.

CJH DevCo has invested P7 billion in the property since the beginning of its contract.

Ubarra belied Casanova claims that CJH DevCo has not been paying lease rentals: “If he would only bother to check the records instead of just inventing stories, he will see that CJH DevCo has in fact already paid BCDA a total of P1.4 billion in lease rentals.” Ubarra told newsmen at the weekly Fernandina Media Forum at Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan City.

He said that while BCDA has only delivered 20% of the required properties based on the contract, CJH DevCo has already paid lease rentals of over 35% of the projected lease rentals based on the original lease agreement that is why “there is an overpayment to BCDA.”

Former Nueva Ecija Rep. Rene Diaz, who was also at the same forum, said that the BCDA-John Hay row is an economic tragedy because it resulted in lost revenues not only for CJH DevCo but also for the City of Baguio.