Demand letter readied vs FLI

CEBU, Philippines - A fifth demand letter against Filinvest Land Incorporated is being prepared by the Cebu City Treasurer's Office should the company refused to pay its fourth installment next week amounting to P245 million.

City Treasurer Ofelia Oliva said the city government is demanding the fourth installment of the P858 million sale of the 10-hectare land at the South Road Properties and the Joint Venture Agreement share of the city plus interest.

Of the P858 million, P245.2 million is for the fourth installment, P600 million is the share of the city in the JVA while the rests is the interest. But FLI, in a statement insisted that the payment is not due yet and non-interest bearing.

“The title that the city is due to turnover to Filinvest in exchange for this year's payment still has an annotation of levy relative to the Rallos claim, as per our joint venture agreement, the city is required to turn over titles that are free and clean from any claims and levy in exchange of our yearly payments,” said FLI First Vice President Tristan Las Marias in response to CTO's latest demand letter.

Las Marias said that the annotations on the title will prevent them from securing permits at the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) for development.

“HLURB prohibits development on titles with annotation of levy. We will not be able to get development permits and license to sell for these areas. In short, Filinvest will not be able to use the properties that we will get unless the claims are removed even if there is a restraining order,” Las Marias said.

He said that the temporary restraining order did not include lifting of the annotations at the Register of Deeds. He said that the fourth payment is not due until the levy is lifted.

“Section 31 of the joint venture agreement entitles Filinvest to defer any payment in the event that there is an ongoing litigation on the subject titles and properties under the joint venture. This gives us the right to suspend payments until the litigation is finally settled,” Las Marias said.

Las Marias also said that there was no basis to the P600 million-share that the city government is demanding. Las Marias said that the city has to review FLI's sales and collection records to be guided accordingly.

FLI was supposed to pay last week. A city official said that FLI changed its mind from paying after learning that no council resolution has been passed authorizing for the turnover of the titles after the payment.

Oliva said that in the past, FLI did not require the resolution prior to payment.

Before, the resolution is passed only after the payment is made.

Oliva explained that she is sending demand letters to FLI so as not to be remised of her duty as a collector.  (FREEMAN)