CICC design row: Pablo John: Medalla didn't have contract with Capitol

Criticizing the United Architects of the Philippines-Visayas for issuing statements "out of ignorance," Capitol legal consultant Pablo John Garcia said the agreement between architect Alexius Medalla and the provincial government failed because the former refused to enter into a contract with the Capitol.

In a news conference yesterday morning, Garcia said the provincial government did not drop Medalla's design because it was intended for the megadome project, adding that Medalla never executed a contract with Capitol.

As such, Garcia said they could not use Medalla's spinning-disc design, which won during a contest in 2003, because it is his intellectual property. "Let us not speak out of ignorance. Let us not speak out of sympathy for a colleague. Let us just get the real facts."

Garcia also lashed at UAP for "bullying" Manuel Guanzon and Associates of the Guanzon Architectural and Design, the new designer of the Cebu International Convention Center, which will get the P12.5 million designer's fee that would have been given to Medalla.

"And I dare say, UAP do not try to bully architect Guanzon. What is UAP trying to say? Nga di na lang gyud na ma-build ang CICC because Medalla's design will not be used? Does Medalla have Torrens Title over the CICC? Who is he? Is he indispensable?" Garcia pointed out.

Earlier, UAP-Visayas through its vice president, Benjamin "Bing" Avila, said that Medalla spent P4 million for his winning spinning-disc design for the dissolved megadome project.

But Garcia revealed that Medalla had billed the provincial government P7 million for his design, which is P3 million higher.

According to Garcia, there had been attempts to compensate Medalla for his design but he always changed his mind until it was overtaken by events with the need to construct a convention center.

The convention center will be the venue for the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in December.

Had Medalla pushed through with the agreement for the creation of an arbitration committee to determine how much he will get, he would have been compensated for his past works.

The creation of an arbitration committee was necessary to find out whether the amount Capitol was going to pay Medalla was justifiable and could be defended before the Commission on Audit, especially in the absence of a contract.

But Medalla refused to sign the contract and instead decided to sell the design, which made it more complicated because they cannot pay for the design that would no longer be executed by the provincial government.

Garcia, however, said that he would recommend a meeting with the UAP as soon as Governor Gwendolyn Garcia returns from South Korea. -Cristina C. Birondo