The regional trial court of Tagudin, Ilocos Sur approved the compromise agreement between Luzon Hydro Corp. and the provincial government of Ilocos Sur.
The move followed seven months of negotiations between LHC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aboitiz Power Corp., and the provincial government of Ilocos Sur on the assessment of the real properties in Alilem, Ilocos Sur.
Aboitiz Power said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Monday that the RTC promulgated its judgement based on the CA which it adopted in toto.
LHC and Ilocos Sur signed the CA for the settlement of the RPT case on July 22, then the parties filed it together with a joint motion for judgment to the RTC a day later.
LHC first filed a petition seeking to enjoin the municipal treasurer of Alilem, Ilocos Sur from auctioning the first batch of LHC properties in November last year.
LHC advised Aboitiz Power on Dec. 13, 2019 that it filed a second petition for prohibition and mandamus, with prayer for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, to enjoin the municipality of Alilem from auctioning its real properties in the town.
This was after LHC received a notice of real property tax delinquency from the Office of the Municipal Treasurer of Alilem, Ilocos Sur seeking to collect P82.249 million in unpaid RPT and accrued penalties for seven properties, covering the period 2004 to September 2019.
The Municipal Treasurer then issued a notice of publication and auction sale covering five of the seven real properties of LHC, consisting of machineries.
Aboitiz Power said the RTC issued another TRO enjoining the municipality of Alilem from selling at public auction another set of LHC’s real properties for a period of 20 days.
LHC asked for a TRO and asked for the executive orders issued by the Office of the President directing the reduction of RPT on property, machinery and equipment actually and directly used by Independent Power Producers under Build-Operate-Transfer contracts and condoning related RPT interest and penalties.
LHC owns, operates and manages the 70-megawatt Bakun AC run-of-river hydropower plant in Amilongan, Alilem, Ilocos Sur. The plant was constructed and operated under the government’s BOT scheme.
