The city government of Manila is taking over the parking operation deal that former mayor Alfredo Lim signed with two private firms in 2012 after the Commission on Audit found out that the deal was grossly disadvantageous to the City of Manila.
The private firms—Tokagawa Global Corp. and Matsuyama Corp.—were ordered to turn over the parking operations to the city’s Traffic Management Bureau.
City Administrator Ericson Alcovendaz said the Tripartite Memorandum of Agreement on Sept. 17, 2012 signed by then mayor Lim, Tokagawa and Matsuyama, called for Matsuyama to provide parking metersand management devices, which will be installed, operated and maintained by Tokagawa.
The parking deal is the subject of graft charges filed by journalist Ricardo Santos Cruz before the Office of the Ombudsman against Lim, Tokagawa vice president Rorie Cariaga, and Matsuyama managing officer Napoleon Ibalio.
In his complaint affidavit, Cruz alleged that Lim and the other respondents violated Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
He noted that based on the city auditor’s report, the TMOA was grossly disadvantageous and the project itself was damaging to the city because of the disparity in the amount of investment by the respondent contractors as compared to the return of investment.
“Considering that the TMOA was entered into by the then incumbent mayor and ratified by the City Council and consistent with the settled doctrine in administrative law of presumption of regularity in public office, Mayor [Joseph] Estrada respected the rights and obligations of the parties in the TMOA when the same was continued upon his assumption to office,” Alcovendaz said.
“To enhance the benefits being received by the city in the TMOA and on the strength of Resolution No. 91 of the City Council of Manila, Mayor Estrada entered into the Supplemental TMOA on 09 October 2013. The TMOA gives the City the prerogative of identifying areas where parking operations may be undertaken. Tokagawa and Matsuyama were likewise required to set aside 2 percent of the net proceeds for the benefit of the City,” he added.
The agreement, with 25 years effectivity, stipulated that the City of Manila is entitled to 20 percent of the net proceeds while 80 percent shall inure to both Tokagawa and Matsuyama as the contractors.
Cruz said upon the TMO’s expiry, the two contractors would have earned a total of P2.77 billion while the City would likely get only a measly P693.48 million. He stressed that the respondent contractors invested the amount of only P11,587,923.20 to start the project and they even failed to provide the city government any scope of work for the project.