Who Lost

It was a victory for the government, as an arbitration committee ordered CJH Development Corporation (CJHDevco) to vacate Camp John Hay in Baguio City and return the property to the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA). But is it really a victory that should be celebrated? Who really won this battle and most who lost this battle?

The biggest losers are the following: (1) the AFP, because of this reverse privatization’s major setback to the Armed Forces’ modernization program; (2) the national government, owing to the black eye to President Aquino’s pet Public-Private Partnership when the PPP is already wracked by undue project delays, flip-flopping official policies, and controversies surrounding public auctions of big-ticket ventures; and (3) the City of Baguio, which is now at a loss on how to collect its overdue 25% share of all JHSEZ rentals paid to the government.

   

Casanova told the media that They see this as a victory for government after the PDRCI’s arbitral tribunal’s Feb. 11 decision for the lessee to return the estate to the lessor, inclusive of all new constructions and permanent improvements that CJHDevCo built on the property to the tune of P5 billion since securing its lease contract 19 years ago.

The decision of PDRCI is contained in the 274-page Final Award issued by the three-member arbitral tribunal chaired by Mario Valderama.

There are on record 118 business enterprises like business process outsourcing (BPO) firms, restaurants and retail shops along with 85 residential buildings owned by private sub-lessees at the CJHSEZ, according to president-CEO Jamie Eloise Agbayani of the John Hay Management Corp. (JHMC). Mayor Mauricio Domogan has been quoted as saying that he is not confident that the Bases Conversion Development Authority will pay the P1.42 billion award to John Hay’s developer adding the government agency will only enforce half of the decision, evict the lessee. 

 This even as he said that BCDA still owes the city nearly P200 million from its share from the rent, including the Technohub that is leased to the Ayala group of companies. That is on top of what the city has already lost of more than P800 million from the P3.3 unpaid accrued lease of the Camp John Hay Development Corporation which the Philippine Dispute Resolution Center, Inc. signed off in its February 11 decision.