03/12/2009 [ tribune.net.ph ]
An administration lawmaker yesterday said the Caloocan City government is not capable of running the Ever-Gotesco Grand Central, thus must allow the shopping mall to be run by retail industry giants after conducting a public bidding for the purpose.
Caloocan City Rep. Oscar Malapitan aired this opinion as he batted for full transparency in the impending city government takeover of Ever-Gotesco and the holding of subsequent bidding for the sale of its assets through a public bidding.
The lawmaker backed the city government in its plan to seize the shopping mall to recover unpaid real estate taxes and the balance for the full payment of the lot where it was erected.
However, Malapitan cautioned local executives against disobeying legal orders by the courts, saying due process must be guaranteed the owners of the mall.
Earlier, Gotesco Investments, owners of the Ever Gotesco Grand Central, accused Caloocan City Mayor Enrico Echiverri of defying the writ of preliminary injunction issued by the Regional Trial Court of Manila enjoining him and the city government from taking over the property and putting it on the auction block.
“In an unprocedural manner and with the intention to disregard such writ, the city of Caloocan filed on Jan. 16, 2009 an ex-parte petition for issuance of writ of possession before the RTC Caloocan City,” the management said in a press statement.
Caloocan City Judge Oscar Barrientos ignored the appeal of Ever Gotesco to dismiss Echiverri’s petition because ruling on it would violate the writ issued by another court.
Last March 9, Barrientos issued a writ of possession upholding the city government’s right to seize the property.
The contradicting court orders should be an issue that must be resolved by the higher courts, Gotesco said as it questioned the motives of Echiverri in his bid to hastily take over the property.
The city government claimed Gotesco has failed to pay over P700 million in real estate taxes and the remainder of the purchase price for the lot where the mall was constructed.
However, Gotesco said a memorandum of agreement was reached between them and the city government for the payment of the purchase price of the lot. A P30 million down payment and 36 post-dated checks were transferred to Caloocan as part of the deal. Charlie V. Manalo
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