Void Ongpin foreshore lease, DENR asked

MANILA, Philippines - A joint venture company has asked the government to void its foreshore lease agreement with businessman Roberto Ongpin whom they accused of acquiring the lease for his own company instead of for the joint venture that appointed him its “agent” for the purpose.

In a statement, Alphaland Bay City Corp., the joint venture where the Wenceslao Group contributed 22 hectares to Ongpin’s 10 hectares, said it was supposed to put up a marina project between Solaire Casino and Mall of Asia.  It also owns the rights to develop the foreshore area.

Instead, Ongpin got the foreshore lease through his Alphaland Development, Inc. (ADI) He also put up a new corporation that promised to develop the marina project to the public and sold membership shares, the Bay City statement said. All the proceeds were kept by the Ongpin company, Alphaland Marina Corp., it added.

In a complaint filed with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources last October, Bay City said ADI “misled (DENR) into signing” the agreement since ADI was “merely an agent” of Bay City and was authorized only to secure the needed licenses and permits “for and in behalf” of the joint venture.

These all happened despite Ongpin telling the Philippine Stock Exchange in a January 2010 disclosure that the marina project would be undertaken by Bay City, the statement said.

“We expect Mr. Ongpin to deny this but we are ready to publish our Memorandum of Agreement with ADI dated Dec. 23, 2010 to prove our point,” it added.