HGC execs hit over midnight deals

MANILA, Philippines - Senior administration lawmakers yesterday hit officials of the Home Guaranty Corp. for apparently working on midnight deals involving selling properties subject to ongoing negotiations to benefit outgoing executives.

Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe, chairman of the House special sub-committee on housing, described as “highly disturbing, questionable and irregular” the publication of an Invitation to Bid by the HGC, through its executive vice president Corazon Corpus, properties involved in the current settlement between the housing guarantee firm and property developer Reghis Romero and his firm, RII Builders Inc.

“Two things can be concluded by the act of trying to dispose the subject assets. One, EVP Corpus took advantage of the situation and published the invitation to bid without the knowledge and approval of management. Or second, such publication is under the direction of top management who are trying to eke a midnight deal before they leave HGC. Either way, such act is highly brazen and in utter bad faith,” he said.

The appointments of the top officials of the HGC are said to have expired last June 30 without new appointments. The current officials are on holdover capacity pending new appointments from Malacañang, the lawmaker said.

Quezon City Rep. Winnie Castelo, for his part, said an investigation should be conducted as members of the committee felt deceived by such action.

The House panel has been given the mandate to bring HGC and RII to the negotiating table to finally settle the two parties’ decades-old dispute arising from the Smokey Mountain Development and Reclamation Project (SMDRP).

Castelo said propriety and decency dictate that the old HGC board should let the incoming officers determine how to administer their assets.

“The action is very suspicious and warrants an investigation. Their attempt is more blatant because it happened while the House committee on housing was discussing ways on how to resolve the mess the HGC is into. We felt deceived,” he said.

Batocabe said HGC officials have been repeatedly telling the sub-committee that it is willing to settle the dispute and, in fact, they have agreed in the last hearing to reconcile their figures with the assistance of the Commission on Audit (COA).

“And yet, while the HGC is consistent with its position before the sub-committee, it is doing a different thing with its intention to dispose and convey assets which are part of the ongoing settlement. As it is, the HGC is just wasting the time and resources of the House of Representatives by deceiving the sub-committee,” Batocabe said.

RII Builders Inc. had earlier offered to advance P2.8 billion to HGC to finally settle the dispute between them and the agency, which is expected to save the government P500,000 in interest payments daily.

However, HGC said the amount is not acceptable, saying it should be around P5 billion. In a bid to determine the exact figure, the panel directed both parties to conduct meetings to settle their figures with the assistance of the COA.

HGC had acted as the guarantor of the SMDRP after it was paid P500 million by the asset pool of the development to assume such role.