DOF urges courts to hasten disposition of government cases

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Finance (DOF) is asking the Office of the Court Administrator to look into delays in the disposition of government cases pending before the Supreme Court and the lower courts.

In a Feb. 17 letter to court administrator Jose Midas Marquez sent last week, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said government cases are piling up before the courts.

“We would like to bring to the attention of the Office of the Court Administrator the need to facilitate the disposition of cases before the lower courts and the Supreme Court given their significant impact on the economy, public finances and the country’s over-all investment climate,” Purisima said.

The letter was dated Feb. 17 and was received by Marquez’s office last Feb. 21.

In his letter, Purisima cited an inventory of cases that involve significant amounts of “payables to the National Government and state-owned corporations.

“Some are key investment related cases, the resolution of which will further boost the country’s image as a predictable and stable investment destination,” Purisima said.

Based on the Finance department’s count, there are 29 cases, dating back to as early as 2002 that remain unresolved in the courts. Fourteen of these are pending before the regional trial courts (RTC), four before the Court of Appeals and 10 before the Supreme Court.

The list includes the case filed by Philnico Industrial Corp. and Pacific Nickel Philippines, Inc. (PNPI).

In 2003, Philnico obtained an injunction stopping the government from recovering its shares in Nonoc Mining and Industrial Corp. in Surigao.

This resulted in the company’s failure to fully pay the roughly $300 million purchase price for the shares.

Purisima said the court order prevented the government from collecting the full purchase price of state shares or recovering the assets.

In the meantime, the company’s mining operations continue.

“We urge the courts to act and resolve with dispatch these cases considering their national relevance and impact,” Purisima said.

Another case was filed by the Privatization Management Office (PMO) against realty firm Sunvar Realty Development.

PMO said Sunvar has not been paying rent on a 2.9-hectare property of the government in Makati City.

“The Makati MTC, where the case was filed in 2009, originally denied Sunvar Realty’s motion to dismiss. However, proceedings ceased when the Makati RTC Branch 134 granted Sunvar Realty’s petition for certiorari. Since then, the case has not moved pending the Supreme Court’s resolution of the government’s appeal of the Makati RTC’s decision,” Purisima said.

The government, through the PMO is also awaiting the high court’s resolution of its case against Philippine International Corp. (PIC).

The case filed in 2005, questioned the company’s alleged “unilateral automatic renewal” of its lease contract for another 25 years on the area occupied by Star City.

The contested area is the 34,346-square meter area being occupied by the amusement park inside the Cultural Center of the Philippines complex.

No decision has been issued on the case which was is pending in the Supreme Court.

According to PMO data, the government’s Makati property and the land occupied by Star City were last appraised at around P1.7 billion and P1.1 billion, respectively.

“These cases are preventing the government from earning substantial income which could have been used to finance various projects and social programs,” he said.