Payanig owner seeking DILG assistance

A Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) controlled real estate company has sought the aid of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in closing down a giant furniture and home furnishing warehouse mall that is allegedly "squatting" on a big portion of their choice 18.3 hectare property in Pasig City.

Ernesto Jalandoni, president and chief executive officer of the Independent Realty Corp. (IRC), said that they have already written DILG Secretary Joey Lina to inform him of the Pasig City government’s seeming lack of action against MC Home Depot, which allegedly illegally occupies 1.7 hectares of their 18.3 million "Payanig sa Pasig" land in the Ortigas Center business district.

"We have already brought the matter to the attention of Secretary Lina and hope that he can help us in this," Jalandoni told The Star.

IRC, a real estate corporation with large prime real estate holdings in Pasig, Mandaluyong, Parañaque, Baguio City and other areas, is controlled by the PCGG after it was turned over to the government by a Filipino-Chinese businessman and close associate of deposed president Ferdinand Marcos in 1987.

IRC supposedly wants MC Home Depot closed for its occupancy of its current site at the corner of Meralco Avenue and Ortigas Avenue in Pasig without a legal lease contract with them and not compensating them for their illegal use of the land.

Jalandoni claimed that the Pasig City government’s continued failure to close down the furniture shopping center, despite its having no city business permits and licenses was highly irregular.

He pointed out that MC Home Depot cannot be issued business permits and licenses by the government in view of the fact that it cannot present any lease contract with the owner of the land they are occupying, a local government requirement in the issuance of such licenses to business entities who occupy land that they do not own.

The IRC had spurred their efforts against MC Home Depot after a Pasig City court recently dismissed a petition filed by Rockland Construction Co. Inc., the supposed entity leasing the property from the IRC and sub-leasing it to MC Home Depot, to have the Pasig City government issue them business permits and licenses allowing them to continue operating their business in the area.

With the dismissal of the petition by Judge Alfredo Flores of the Pasig Regional Trial Court after the city government rightly refused to issue them business permits in the face of their failure to present a lease contract with IRC.

Jalandoni earlier urged outgoing Mayor Soledad Eusebio, who will be replaced by her husband Vicen-te next month, to act on the decision of Flores and effect the immediate closure of MC Home Depot.