Opus Dei school row goes to court?

The public hearings by the Quezon City Council on a controversial P1-billion local government lot deal is wrapping up without any happy ending in sight.

Instead, what looms is a slew of law suits among the contending parties and members of the City Council who approved early this year a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Paref-Northfield, an Opus Dei-run school, to use the 3.1 hectare of property at the Green Meadows 3 Subdivision for free for 50 years.

Still, Elena Enriquez of the Romulo Mabanta law offices, counsel for the school, expressed confidence that a majority of the new City Council would uphold the legality of the deal, which has been described by Councilor Antonio Inton Jr. as "highly anomalous."

Enriquez moved yesterday during what could well be the last public hearing on the issue, that the legislative investigation on the deal be terminated. As of press time, it was not known what the decision of the four joint committees holding the hearings would be on her motion.

But Enriquez hinted that the school would sue the City Council if it decides to annul the MOA.

What is clear is that seven of the members of the incumbent City Council investigating the deal were among those who authored a resolution on March 20 last year approving it on a certification of then City Mayor Ismael Mathay Jr. that the matter was urgent. They are Councilors Wilma Amoranto Sarino, Vincent Crisologo, Jorge Banal, Julian Coseteng, Eric Medina, Rommel Abesamis and Jesus Suntay.

Critics of the deal, led by the Coalition of Homeowners Associations (COHA), said the City Council’s March 20 resolution approving the school construction was railroaded through the council and that there were no consultations with residents who would be affected by the project. The MOA obligated the city government to pay 25-percent of the lot’s assessed value at the end of the 50-year period. Should the city government fail to pay the amount, the school would use the property for another 50 rent-free years.

School officials had offered to remove the clause obligating the city government to pay the school at the end of the deal under certain conditions.

Some councilors were hoping that a compromise agreement would be reached but COHA spokesman Manolo Dayrit said the residents would take the matter to court should the City Council refuse to nullify the MOA.

Inton, who called for the investigation, said the MOA violates Presidential Decree 1216, which reserves open spaces in subdivisions for public parks. He said the city’s zoning laws also prohibit the construction of the school in the area, which has been classified as a low-density residential land. He also opposed a compromise agreement amending the MOA, saying that would still violate the terms of the law.

"We cannot amend what is void from the beginning," said Inton.

"The resolution amounts to an anti-graft act since the members of the council granted a special privilege to a private entity pertaining to a public property worth no less than P1 billion at current (real estate) prices," COHA chair Peter Paul Bautista said in a letter earlier sent to the city council.

He noted that Mathay’s daughter-in-law, Ma. Ana Mathay, is a member of Paref-Northfield’s board of trustees. The previous city council approved the memorandum of agreement between the City and the school for the construction of a "park with school" on the property. Mathay’s son – former Councilor Ramon "Bu" Mathay, along with Councilor Marcel Rillo, introduced the resolution approving the deal.