CDC warns ‘delinquent’ investor

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga — The state-owned Clark Development Corp. (CDC) has no choice but to terminate its contract with Sacobia Hills Development Corp. (SHDC) should the company fail within 15 days to finally get its proposed P4.8-billion tourism complex going at the Clark special economic zone, a CDC official said.

The SHDC signed a lease contract with the CDC in January 1997 for the Tru North Golf and Country Club complex, and it subsequently sold shares worth millions of pesos.

The company, as planned, was supposed to have already finished the first phase of its 18-hole golf course costing about P1.59 billion. The tourism complex, as envisioned, will also have a theme park, sports facilities and residential villas, among other structures.

But its proposed site, covering a total of 120 hectares, looks abandoned.

Victor Jose Luciano, CDC executive vice president, said they had given the SHDC up to last Sept. 15 to comply with its obligations, but it failed to do so.

The company, he said, owes the CDC some P27 million in lease payments for the golf course site and another P35 million for the "Hacienda homes."

Luciano said the CDC subsequently gave the SHDC another 15-day deadline, with company officials giving assurance that they have new investors to finally push through with its project.

"We will have to look into the capability of the investors to finish the project. Otherwise, the CDC would take over the project and look for another investor," Luciano said.

The SHBC is chaired by Donald Dee, president of the Employers’ Confederation of the Philippines. Records from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) show that Dee is also the treasurer of SHBC, whose president is Jaime Koa.

Dee, records show, subscribed to 6,410 common shares of the SHDC valued at P641,000, of which only P256,410 was paid up.

The SHDC has an authorized capital of P100 million, of which P25,641,000 was subscribed and P10,256,410 was paid up.

The STAR tried to get in touch with SHDC officials at their offices here and in Makati City but failed. — Ding Cervantes