An alliance advocating for good governance on Wednesday slammed lawmakers who favored the P5-billion settlement offer of real estate developer R-II Builders Inc. over the botched Smokey Mountain Development and Reclamation Project.
Filipino Alliance for Transparency and Empowerment president Jennifer Castro said Reghis Romero of R-II Builders’ offer was “anti-poor and anti government.”
“Home Guaranty Corp. was right in rejecting outright the offer of R-II Builders. The offer was anti-poor and anti-government,” Castro said in a statement.
Castro clarified that R-II Builders owed HGC P10 billion—not P5 billion—in principal payments, including accumulated interests.
“His settlement offer is baseless. It’s grossly disadvantageous to the government. In fact, R-II Builders is even unable to show that it has P1 billion in its coffers,” she said.
State-run HGC earlier rejected the P5-billion settlement offer of R-II Builders for the controversial SMDRP.
HGC officer-in-charge Cora Corpuz said the settlement offer was low and unacceptable as a compromise agreement.
“The P5 billion [offer] is definitely low and is not acceptable,” she said.
Some members of the House subcommittee on housing in last week’s Congressional hearing urged HGC to accept a comprise agreement between the government and R-II Builders, the private contractor of SMDRP.
Lawmakers Joel Batocabe of Ako Bicol partylist and Winnie Castelo of Quezon City expressed disappointment over the decision of HGC to reject Romero’s offer, saying the decision was an anti-Filipino.
The Commission on Audit had called on HGC to settle its financial problems with the government and property developers in order to bring itself back to fiscal viability.
Romero in July 2015 offered to reimburse the state some P5 billion for the project.
The same offer was rejected by HGC lawyer Dexter Licuanan. He said the Romero group should make a just offer to settle the two-decade dispute.
The late president Corazon Aquino drew up the project to convert the former dumpsite into a habitable housing project.
The National Housing Authority under the administration of former president Fidel Ramos was assigned as the developer and signed a joint venture agreement with R-II Builders.
Under the joint venture agreement, R-II Builders would finance the development and construction of 2,992 temporary housing units and 3,520 units of medium-rise housing. The deal included the development of industrial and commercial sites within Smokey Mountain.
Former HGC president Manuel Sanchez initially estimated the value of the area at around P9.5 billion.
“Romero also wants mutual withdrawal of cases. If we do that, the claims of the government will be lost forever. We have to make sure that the settlement would be fair and proper,” Sanchez said.
HGC is mandated to provide risk coverage and tax or fiscal incentives to banks and financial institutions or investors engaged in housing development loans or credits, and home financing.