QC council to probe P1-B land deal

The Quezon City council has tasked at least five standing committees to investigate the controversial P1 billion land deal in Greenmeadows III.

In its last session before its 25-day break, the city council referred the resolution of 4th District Councilor Ariel Inton Jr. calling for the renovation of the memorandum of agreement between Paref-Northfield School for Boys and the Quezon City government under former Mayor Ismael Mathay Jr. to the commitees on education, subdivisions, justice and human rights, laws, and environment.

The five committees virtually include all 26 members of the council and are scheduled to conduct joint public hearings after the break to determine if the MOA is disadvantageous to the city government and if allegations of procedural defects by the former city council or legal infirmities are true.

In his resolution, Inton called for the MOA’s repeal, citing the following reasons:

• The MOA was disadvantageous to the city government because it gave Paref the special privilege of using the 3.1-hectare P1 billion-worth public property for 50 years rent-free;

• The MOA violated the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act because it allowed a private entity where Mathay’s close relatives were a part of or were enrolled in to use a government property for its business;

• The city council was misled into ratifying the MOA under suspended rules, without the benefit of public hearings, despite its disadvantageous provisions and the former mayor’s conflict of interests;

• The MOA violated the Constitution’s doctrine on the separation of Church and State because it granted a special privilege to a religious orgaization to use a government property reserved exclusively for public use, and;

• The benefits to be derived by the city government from the MOA were not proportionate to its value and is, thus, one-sided in favor of the private entity.

Meanwhile, Inton said the public hearings to be conducted by the five committees would enable the public, particularly the residents of eight subdivisions around the 3.1-hectare public property, to present other evidences that would justify the MOA’s revocation.