QC dad urged to sue former official

Lawyer Dante David has urged Quezon City Councilor Janet Malaya to file a civil action for damages against former Mayor Ishmael Mathay Jr. over a controversial dumpsite.

Malaya was the only councilor who put her thumbs down on the ratification of a compromise agreement made between incumbent Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and property firm Lexber Inc.

The compromise deal came after the government official requested to settle a P56.3 million it owed the company for damages on installment, instead of outright payment. The city’s obligation is mandated by a final and executory judgment of the Supreme Court after the highest court decided a case in favor of Lexber.

David said his client accepted the compromise with an open heart as the city’s officials pleaded that an outright payment will seriously affect the city’s cash flow.

The case stemmed from a landfill project in Antipolo City which was developed by Lexber after inking a contract with former Mayor Brigido Simon Jr. in 1990. But when Mayor Ishmael Mathay Jr. assumed office in 1992, he refused to honor the contract and had it abandoned in favor of the tragedy-prone Payatas dumpsite for reasons known only to the former mayor. This prompted the realty company to seek legal remedies that resulted in a nine-year court battle against the city government. The Supreme Court last year ruled in favor of Lexber and ordered the city government to pay Lexber the amount of P56.3 million for damages.

"Lexber could have resorted to a more coercive legal process to promptly satisfy judgment out of the city’s available funds, but my client was kind enough to accede to such a compromise," said David. "It now appears that this expression of benevolence is not appreciated by Councilor Malaya. I am beginning to cast doubt on the real motive of the honorable councilor," David said.

David noted that it is the obligation of every councilor to approve the terms in the compromise agreement and appropriate the funds for payment since the council has fully clothed the city mayor with the authority to enter into a less burdensome mode of payment with Lexber.

David said the controversy started when Mathay abandoned the contract made between Lexber and then Mayor Simon Jr.

"It was abandoned by the Mathay government at a time when Metro Manila was in the midst of a garbage crisis, resulting from the non-availability of a dump site even after Quezon City had spent millions to construct the sanitary landfill," said David.

The Supreme Court stressed that there would have been no Payatas tragedy had the Quezon City government proceeded to make use of the sanitary landfill.

"This problem is compounded by recent events where tragedy has befallen scavengers and residents in a Quezon City dumpsite that should have been closed years ago. It would no longer be prophetic to say that had Quezon City used the Antipolo dumpsite and discontinued the use of the Payatas dumpsite way back in 1991, the tragedy would have been averted," said the Supreme Court in its 29-page decision.