Wednesday, 6 June 2012

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.