Posted on August 03, 2011 09:30:30 PM [ BusinessWorld Online ]
BACOLOD CITY -- The Negros Occidental provincial government has refused to honor a court order temporarily banning it from awarding a property sale and lease contract to Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI).
Complainant SM Prime Holdings, Inc., which has been forwarding copies of the decision to the local government, wasn’t deputized to deliver the notice, Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo G. Marañon, Jr. reasoned.
He said that as of yesterday, his office has yet to receive the official copy of the 60-day temporary restraining order issued by the Court of Appeals in Cebu City.
SM Prime, which claimed to have won the bidding, sent to the governor’s office a copy of the restraining order a couple of days after it was issued also on July 20.
But Mr. Marañon said SM Prime is not deputized to serve the order.
In a three-page resolution dated July 27, Associate Justice Victoria Isabel Paredes stated the court denied SM Prime’s “urgent ex-parte manifestation and motion dated July 21, 2011 to be deputized to serve court orders and resolutions on respondents.” A copy of the order was furnished by the Provincial Legal Office to the media yesterday.
SM Prime had said it had offered a superior bid for the property than Ayala Land’s at a tender held on July 7. -- NLG
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