Filipino firm obtains injunction vs SBMA

OLONGAPO CITY, Philippines – A judge here has granted a writ of preliminary mandatory injunction ordering the government-run Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) to remove its barricades and police sentinels from a 5,600-square meter beach complex at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone and turn over its management to a private company.

“Without necessarily touching on the merits of this case, this court finds Brighterday Subic Ltd. Inc. (BSLI) has established a clear and unmistakable right or right in esse that the court should protect” over the All Hands Beach Complex on San Bernardino Road at the freeport, said Judge Richard Paradeza of Regional Trial Court Branch 72. In esse means “better right.”

In a seven-page order dated April 5, Paradeza said he issued the preliminary mandatory injunction on SBMA “in order to restore and normalize the operation, management and control of the All Hands Beach Complex and to prevent further irreparable damage and injury.”

The SBMA took over the property in September last year after alleging that BSLI had defaulted in one term of the Facilities Management Agreement (FMA) that both parties signed on July 2 last year.

The SBMA Board approved the execution of the FMA and its approval also in June.

BSLI had spent P8 million in undertaking improvements, with consent from the SBMA engineering department.

“However, (SBMA) in violation of the FMA continuously collects all income from the rental revenues of the overnight cottages, pavilions, bamboo huts and all other rental facilities inside the beach complex,” a part of the court order read.

BSLI argued it did not default in delivering a cash advance of P4.7 million, which SBMA claimed it would use to settle the separation pay of personnel assigned to its erstwhile subsidiary Freeport Service Corp.

In court, BSLI president Francisco Garcia said his company was tendering payment through personal and corporate checks, which were refused by SBMA.

It demanded payment in the form of manager’s checks, which BSLI complied with but SBMA again refused to accept, Garcia said.

BSLI, represented by its legal counsel, lawyer Ricardo Sagmit Jr., was set to ask the court to issue the writ and approve its serving to the SBMA.

This was the second order that favored the BLSI’s stake over All Hands Beach Complex. In an order dated Sept. 21, 2010, RTC Branch 75 granted a temporary restraining order stopping the SBMA from pre-terminating the FMA, evicting BLSI, collecting revenues, interfering in management and preventing BSLI to exercise full control and supervision on the management of the beach complex.

RTC Branch 72 was made to assume the case after BSLI filed a motion inhibiting the Branch 75 judge over a defect of service to summon.