BCDA asks SC to review Camp John Hay case

MANILA, Philippines -  State-run Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to review a Court of Appeals (CA) decision which reverses the order of an arbitration body directing CJH Development Corp. (CJHDevCo) to vacate Camp John Hay in Baguio City.

 

BCDA president and chief executive officer Arnel Paciano Casanova said the agency has filed a writ of certiorari before the High Court to question the CA decision, penned by Associate Justice Noel Tijam. 

  

"It's highly irregular," Casanova said, referring to the CA ruling. 

 

In 67-page decision, the CA modified the final award declaring CJHDevCo's obligation to vacate and deliver the leased property to BCDA as dependent on agency's payment of P1.4 billion, which effectively rendered the arbitral award empty.

 

With the CA order reversal, the BCDA, which was supposed to recover all new construction and permanent improvements, will stand to lose everything. 

 

The CA also ruled that sub-lessees should not be evicted, contrary to the admission of Camp John Hay that its contractual relationship with the so-called "third parties" was a sublease.

 

Cassanova alleged that Tijam's decision was "grossly disadvantageous to the government."

 

Lawyer Peter Paul Andrew Flores, BCDA head for legal services, said that based on the merits of the case, the BCDA is confident that SC will rule in their favor. 

 

"Public interest will eventually prevail," Flores said.

 

He said that should the CA decision be enforced, government will not benefit because the sub-lessees have already paid their lease to CJHDevCo until 2046. 

 

The structures will be worthless by the time these are turned over to the BCDA in 2046 as the useable life of a building is only about 50 years, Flores added.