PCGG to review anomalous lease of Pasig land

A contract to rent out a 17.9-hectare commercial land in Ortigas District in Pasig owned by a sequestered realty firm will be reviewed by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) after consultation with the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG).

PCGG chairman Camilo Sabio said the OSG had returned a copy of the property management contract between Mid Pasig Land Development Corp. (MPLDC) and Optimus Property Holdings Corp. (OPHC) for the lease of the former site of “Payanig sa Pasig” for 15 years for P1.44 billion.

“We are supposed to review and I would prefer that the commission would not involve itself,” he told reporters early this week. “I’ll just leave that to the people concerned first.”

Sabio said he had sent back the contract to the MPLDC after failing to get a legal opinion from the OSG.

“So right now, they’re given a chance to reform it, to change it,” he said. “Because if nothing will happen, then we’ll not sign it.”

MPLDC president Ernesto Jalandoni and lawyer Precioso Perlas, OPHC president, signed the lease contract.

Sabio had ordered the MPLDC to suspend the implementation of the contract pending its review by the OSG.

Earlier, he had raised concerns over the contract on grounds that the MPLDC failed to hold a public bidding to get the best terms for leasing the property.

The land is currently occupied by the Metrowalk commercial complex, MC Home Depot, Ortigas Home Depot complex, Automoville cardealership compound, and a golf driving range.

The property management contract between MPLDC and OPHC provides that OPHC would pay MPLDC P6.5 million a month in the first year of the 15-year lease.

In the second year, the monthly lease will increase from P6.5 million to P9 million a month, which will then increase by 10 percent after every two years.

A valuation of the lease terms shows that OPHC would effectively lease the whole property at P48 per square meter a month.

The current going rate for commercial properties in the Ortigas business District is said to be P500 per square meter a month.

The property came under the PCGG’s control after Marcos associate Jose Yao Campos surrendered the Independent Realty Corp. (IRC) to the government in 1987.

Records show Campos admitted to the PCGG that the  company belonged to the late President Ferdinand Marcos. The IRC owns the IRC building along EDSA in Mandaluyong, where the PCGG holds office.

MPLDC holds the title to the 17.9-hectare property formerly occupied by of the “Payanig sa Pasig.”

The property is claimed by the Ortigas family, who allege that they sold it to Marcos under duress; Filipino-taipan Alfonso Yuchengco; and Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.

The Marcos heir claims that Campos had no right to surrender the property to the government. – Rainier Allan Ronda