THE Supreme Court has ruled with finality upholding the right of R-II Builders Inc. to file a case before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court to recover more than P4 billion from two government agencies, in connection with the Quezon City Regional Trial Court that started in 1993.
In a resolution released on Thursday, the SC denied the motions filed by the National Housing Authority and the Home Guaranty Corp. to reconsider its July 26, 2017 ruling that dismissed their petitions for lack of merit.
“Acting on the petitioners’ separate motions for reconsideration… and considering that there is no substantial argument to warrant a modification of this Court’s resolution, the Court resolves to deny reconsideration with finality,” the resolution stated.
The SC ruled that “no further pleadings or motions shall be entertained” and “let an entry of judgment in these cases be issued immediately.”
In its July 26, 2017 resolution, the SC dismissed the petitions filed by NHA and HGC which challenged the 2015 decision of the Court of Appeals in favor of R-II Builders, owned by port developer Reghis M. Romero II.
“After judicious consideration of the arguments raised by petitioners HGC and NHA, the Court resolves to deny the instant petitions for review on certiorari for lack of merit. Petitioners failed to sufficiently show that the Court of Appeals committed reversible error in issuing the assailed decision and resolution,” the SC ruled.
The high court stressed that the primary objective of R-II Builders in filing a civil case before the Quezon City regional trial court “is to recover the residual value of the asset pool (Smokey Mountain Asset Pool or SMAP) in the SMDRP after its liquidation and the annulment of the instruments in question.”
“We agree with the finding of the CA that based on the allegations in the complaint, as well as the reliefs prayed for therein, the suit instituted by respondent R-II Builders, Inc. was a personal action because its primary objective was the rescission of certain agreements,” the high court said.
It noted that based on the complaint filed with the RTC, R-II Builders wanted the rescission of deed of assignment and conveyance executed by the Planters Development Bank in favor of the HGC in view of the failure of the latter to fulfill its obligation to pay for all unredeemed Regular Participation Certificates; the resolution of the contract of guaranty on account of the HGC’s refusal to pay for the guarantee coverage with debenture bonds as specifically required in the agreement; and the accounting and liquidation of the asset pool as necessary consequence of the rescission of the deed of assignment and conveyance.
The SC said that “these prayers for resolution, rescision, accounting, liquidation, and delivery of the residual value of the Asset Pool are akin to actions for specific performance and recovery of a sum of money.”
In 1993, the NHA and R-II Builders entered into a Joint Venture Agreement for the implementation of the SMDRP.
The JVA was aimed at implementing a two-phase conversion of the Smokey Mountain Dumpsite into a habitable housing project.
In 1994, NHA and R-II Builders, with HGC as guarantor and the Philippine National bank as trustee, entered into an Asset Pool Formation Trust Agreement which provided the mechanics for the implementation of the project.
Former Vice President Noli de Castro. then chair of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council under the Office of the President, recommended in 2010 the settlement of the claims made by HGC as subrogee of the SMAP amounting to P4.7 billion
De Castro’s recommendation stated that the items of work in SMDRP had been rendered as early 1995 but remained unpaid. It pointed out that based on the validation of an inter-agency technical committee, the SMAP already had a value of more than P7.09 billion as of 2010.
In the same SC resolution, the High Court also dismissed the claims of both the NHA and HGC that the civil case filed by R-II Builders with the RTC was the same case it had resolved and dismissed in 2011.