'BCDA notice of lease termination illegal'

MANILA, Philippines - An official of the Camp John Hay Development Corp. (CJHDevCo) yesterday said the attempt of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) to terminate the company’s contract is illegal.

In a statement, CJHDevCo executive vice president and chief operating officer Alfredo Yñiguez said the notice of termination of lease to the company for allegedly not intending to pay the BCDA is “baseless.”

The notice of termination of lease was issued by BCDA president Arnel Casanova, who said he was exercising his right to terminate the contract of CJHDevCo.

Yñiguez said their lawyers have advised them that Casanova “has acted arbitrarily and without basis, using accusations instead of facts as basis to terminate a valid and binding contract that cannot be terminated without following proper procedure.”

Yñiguez said, “We have paid BCDA a total amount of P1.4 billion. We have been diligent with our payments. In fact, in an act of good faith and to amicably settle all pending disputes, CJHDC reached out to BCDA to settle the ongoing impasse and even offered to pay P500 million and presented another proposal that should generate almost P13 billion in revenues for BCDA.”

“He (Casanova) has no basis to say that there is no intention to pay. As a matter of fact, it is Casanova that has refused to submit to the authority of the arbitration, which is mandated in the contract,” Yniguez said.

Yñiguez also clarified that before the BCDA can send any notice of termination, it should first submit itself to the proper procedures outlined in the contract.

“There is currently an arbitration procedure that is ongoing. The BCDA should submit itself to this procedure first. Casanova cannot just whimsically terminate the contract without following this procedure, otherwise he is acting in abuse of his discretion as BCDA president and should be sanctioned for it,” he said.