Controversy at The Fort

A trial court has enjoined a condominium owner and developer from converting certain floors originally intended for parking into residential and official units.

The injunction was issued by the Taguig regional trial court in response to a complaint filed by Fort Bonifacio Development Corp. (FBDC) will claimed that the conversion is in violation of the terms and conditions of the sale in May of last year by FBDC of the 1,600-square meter lot to Philip Cea, who owns the company that built Fort Palm Springs Condominium.

FBDC is the owner and developer of the Bonifacio Global City which is covered by a masterplan that defines its optimal use and matches the area’s population with adequate facilities and amenities.

According to FBDC, the conversion of the three parking floors would “destroy” the masterplan and affect all residents and unit buyers, aside from being a violation of the building designs and plans.

FBDC told the court that its loss of control over locators and their projects could expose it to incalculable legal liability to its other buyers and the buyers’ buyers.

Unfortunately, the condo owner is insisting that what has already been done can no longer be undone. It appears that the units built on the 5th, 6th, and 7th floors, which were originally parking floors, had already been sold.

When asked by the court to identify the buyers, Cea said he cannot do that because the buyers  require privacy for their own security. Sources say these “secret buyers” are mostly active and retired military officers.

But Taguig Judge Louis Acosta, in issuing an injunction against the conversion and the sale of the units,  said the excuse is incredible, especially considering that this is the city, not the battlefields.

Although court evidence showed that the 5th, 6th, and 7th floors are indeed parking floors, Cea denied knowledge of the restrictions and said the conversion was approved by Taguig officials.

By the court emphasized that despite Cea’s denial of knowledge, defendants’ own evidence show that they had full knowledge (of the restrictions).

Records show that the conversion of the three parking floors allowed Cea to gain and sell roughly an extra 4,400 square meters of residential space and brought down the number of parking slots from the original 225 to 108. The minimum required under the original plan was 144 parking slots.

NTC’s Lenten service

Summer is here, and thousands of vacationers from all over the country are hitting the road for their annual jaunt to the countryside and other getaway destinations. 

To make sure these travelers are safe, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has mobilized all its field offices to assist vacationers during the Holy Week, and the rest of the summer vacation. 

The NTC issued the memorandum directing all its regional directors to coordinate with civic and amateur groups on various projects that would aid travellers wherever they are in the archipelago this summer. 

This comes on the heels of NTC’s operations during the Christmas holidays instituting measures to assist motorists during the heavy traffic all over the country last December to January. 

NTC deputy commissioner Jaime Fortes Jr. explained that this is a public service of the NTC to all Filipinos who will be observing the Lenten Season in the provinces, and in anticipation of the Sumvac (summer vacation) in which vacationers will again be traveling in the various parts of the country.

He added that this is a major part of the NTC mandate to regulate the use of radio in the interest of safety. 

Fortes directed all NTC regional directors to coordinate with the civic and amateur groups who will render Sumvac operations in their respective areas of jurisdiction, and determine the type of assistance that the Commission can extend to motorists and vacationers. 

He said the NTC may help facilitate the issuance to these volunteer groups of temporary permits and licenses that they need to perform their Sumvac operations.

Regional directors were ordered last week to submit their reports and recommendations to the NTC, through Fortes, and the Radio Regulations and Licensing Department (RRLD). 

At the same time, volunteer groups have been required to submit necessary information, including the names of participating groups, areas and routes they will cover, frequencies they will use along with contact numbers and point persons during their operations. These include the temporary locations of their respective radio bases during Sumvac operations, and the duration of their operations. 

For his part, NTC deputy commissioner Douglas Michael Mallillin said the commission has long been partnering with other institutions and groups like the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) to also help Filipinos in times of natural calamities. 

It institutionalized a partnership with radio volunteer groups through Oplan Bayanihan. This operation extended assistance to the NDCC during typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng when most of Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon were heavily flooded, and a lot of cell sites were down, Mallillin revealed. 

He recalled that the NTC was communicating both with the NDCC and civic groups 24/7, and monitoring developments in various areas of the country affected by the disaster.  

The NTC also provided the NDCC mobile repeaters and cell sites on wheels to ensure that the latter would have cellular signal during the typhoon, he said.  

He added that through the NTC, Smart Communications also provided satellite phones to all NDCC regional offices to ensure that communication lines were available in times of disaster just in case cell sites were down.  

Last February, the NTC issued an order prohibiting the importation, sale, possession and use of jamming devices that could interrupt signals.

In October, the NTC spearheaded an information campaign to guide the public on how to deal with text scams and spams.

It  also institutionalized the One-Stop Public Assistance Center (OSPAC).  Consumer complaints are streamlined with the existence of an OSPAC hotline number and e-mail address which the public can call and write to for their concerns.  In coordination with the telcos, there is now a faster turnaround time on consumer complaints.

These proactive, public service-oriented programs have not escaped the notice of the country’s two legislative bodies.

The Office of the Senate President and members of the House of Representatives are sponsoring a bill that would provide the NTC the necessary powers and functions for a more efficient and effective regulatory agency overseeing both the telco and broadcast industries.

Events overtook the ultimate passage of the bill into law. But it made the public more aware of the urgency of ensuring the independence of the NTC for it to be a more effective and public-spirited regulator in a highly competitive industry. 

Justify Bidding Process

Complaining bidders have urged the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to explain, point-by-point, the controversies behind the prequalification of a blacklisted bidder for the new Communications, Navigation and Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) Systems Development Project, which is deemed to provide a system that is critical to aviation security in the Philippines.

According to participating bidders, now is not the time to confuse the public on the process behind the prequalification, and that instead, JICA should clarify why it disqualified capable bidders and qualified a blacklisted bidder, specifically Thales group (formerly Thompson CSF), to submit a proposal for Package 1 and 2 of the project.

They reminded JICA that Thomson-CSF Group was blacklisted during the time of President  Ramos after failing to deliver on its contract package for the Globe Maritime Distress Safety System (GMDSS), which resulted to the Coast Guard resorting to the use of its antiquated system.

Another point that JICA should shed light on, said the complainants, is the disqualification of a bidders to undertake Package 1, which is worth $80 million, but financially qualifying them for Package 2 amounting to $120 million, which clearly is more costly than Package 1.  

They say the process is becoming all the more dubious since JICA is not explaining the whole prequalification process for the two packages.

The bidders are also demanding an explanation on why the Department of Transportation and Communication and JICA had to conduct a separate prequalification process for Package 1 and 2 when the two are interrelated.  

They have likewise asked newly installed DOTC Secretary Anneli Lontoc, as well as the National Economic Development Authority and the government procurement policy board, to broaden the investigation and resolve the issues behind the bidding process.

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