Bacolod City\u2014The Court of Appeals (CA) has lifted a 60-day temporary restraining order (TRO) that may pave the way for the provincial government to proceed with the sale and lease of its 7.7-hectare of prime property here to Ayala Land Inc. (ALI).<\/p>\n
In a decision dated Sept. 6, the CA\u2019s 20th Division denied the petition of SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SMPHI) for a preliminary injunction and instead cut short the 60-day TRO it issued on July 27. The order was supposed to expire on Oct. 4.<\/p>\n
The court ordered SMPHI and the provincial government officials to submit their memorandums within 15 days after which the case would be deemed submitted for decision.<\/p>\n
SMPHI lawyer Vincent Patrick Bayhon could not be reached for comment as of press time.<\/p>\n
SMPHI filed a petition for certiorari against the provincial government, insisting that it won the July 7 public bidding for the property. It posted a P50-million bond.<\/p>\n
It had insisted that it \u201cclearly submitted a bid superior to Ayala\u2019s\u201d and was surprised when the bidding was declared a failure.<\/p>\n
SMPHI had proposed to purchase a portion of the province-owned property for P18,885 per square meter and to lease the remaining portion for P65 per sq. m., well within the price set by the awards committee.<\/p>\n
Ayala, on the other hand, submitted a bid of P17,000 per sq. m. for the purchase and P50 per sq. m. for the lease.<\/p>\n
The provincial government declared the bidding a failure after both parties\u2019 bids came in below the floor price set by the Commission on Audit.<\/p>\n
A negotiated bidding was held on July 15, but SMPHI representatives did not show up. The property was then awarded to ALI.<\/p>\n
SMPHI filed petition before the regional trial court in a bid to stop the negotiated sale and lease.<\/p>\n
Judge Estefanio S. Libutan Jr. of Bacolod RTC Branch 50 did not issue a TRO but instead asked the Capitol officials and ALI to comment on SMPHI\u2019s petition.<\/p>\n
But SMPHI decided to elevate its petition to the CA, which then issued a 60-day TRO on July 27. On Sept. 6, the CA ruled to lift the TRO and asked the respondents to file their memorandums.<\/p>\n
Gov. Alfredo Mara\u00f1on Jr. was happy with the court\u2019s decision, saying the sale and lease of the province-owned property to ALI could now proceed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a vindication of our position,\u201d he said. \u201cWe followed all legal procedures in the conduct of the bidding and SMPHI self proclaimed itself the winner.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bacolod City\u2014The Court of Appeals (CA) has lifted a 60-day temporary restraining order (TRO) that may pave the way for the provincial government to proceed with the sale and lease of its 7.7-hectare of prime property here to Ayala Land Inc. (ALI). In a decision dated Sept. 6, the CA\u2019s 20th Division denied the petition […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,46],"tags":[20093],"byline":[329],"source":[206073],"column":[],"editor":[],"videographer":[],"position":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n