Cancelled Amari deal spells market doom

Carol Sy, spokesperson of Cyber Bay shareholders expressed fears that the ongoing Supreme Court deliberations on the 750-hectare Manila Bay reclamation project developed by Cyber Bay Corp. known formerly as Amari Coastal Bay Development Corp. may lead to the collapse of the financial market stemming from the shutdown of at least 10 other major reclamation projects in the country.

"The Supreme Court should deliberate thoroughly and should not rush judgment on the issue because at stake is the viability of the country‘s financial market," said Sy, who recently organized small Cyber Bay shareholders into a lobby group to get back their hard earned investments.

Sy predicted it is "a sure ball 100 percent financial doom for the 10 other developers" which have similar land agreements with PEA," in the event of a negative Supreme Court (SC) decision denying the motion for reconsideration of the Amari land deal with the Public Estates Authority (PEA).

Sy cited that once the amended joint venture agreement is upheld null and void by the SC it consequently in one fell swoop relegates developers like DM Wenceslao & Jan de Nul Consortium, Shoemart, Inc., Royal Asia, TOA Corp., FF Cruz, SEAOIL, Bacolod Real Estate Development Corp. and Construction Development Corp. to bankruptcy. The collapse of more than 10 land reclamation projects is predicted to snowball into the financial collapse of the banking industry and the local bourse.

"We are not talking of mince meat here; we are looking at billions of pesos across these ten PEA led land agreements. In fact, any adverse decision not only sends a negative message to all foreign investors that the Philippine government could not be relied on to make good its word on such contracts. This smacks of a dangerous precedent." Sy cautioned that in at least ten reclamation projects with PEA, foreign capital stood at millions of dollars. "Losses would run into billions of pesos."

In the case of Cyber Bay consortium and team of experts, among the foreign companies it tapped into are Italian Development Co. Ltd., Centasia Group Ltd., HOK International, McDonough Assoc. Inc. Wilbur Smith & Associates, Robert Trent Jones II. All these foreign companies will seek payment for services already rendered. "There is no way to recover the investment that was put into these reclamation projects," she said.

The impending SC ruling would automatically invalidate all the titles issued to private corporations. "By virtue of the titles being illegal, the sale or the act of mortgaging such to financial institutions will also constitute an illegal act," she said.

In the joint venture agreement between Shoemart, Inc. and PEA, the former was granted land titles for 49.45 has or a 35 percent share of the gross area. For R-1 Expressway project, DM Wenceslao and consortium stands to loose its land tiles amounting to 112 has or 55 percent of the gross area.

Cyber Bay since the awarding of the contract by PEA has completed site clearing, urban poor relocation, dredging and reclamation. The amended deal entails Cyber Bay giving PEA P1.8 billion for the reclamation of three Freedom Islands.