Posted on June 21, 2012 09:52:27 PM [
BusinessWorld Online ]
BACOLOD CITY -- The provincial
government of Negros Occidental has appealed to the Commission on Audit (CoA)
to act on its request for approval of a real estate transaction with Ayala
Land, Inc. (ALI).
Gov. Alfredo Marañon, Jr. filed a
manifestation on June 11, asking the state auditor to approve the “soonest
possible time” the deed of conditional sale and supplement to the deed of
conditional sale signed with the developer.
The documents refer to the sale of a
36,587-square-meter (sq. m.) property adjacent to the Provincial Capitol in
Bacolod City to Ayala Land for more than P750 million. The sale was part of
Ayala Land’s proposed P6-billion development project.
“We have not heard from the CoA yet,”
the governor said yesterday.
Assistant Provincial Legal Officer
Mary Ann Manayon-Lamis said the provincial government can proceed, on the other
hand, to lease a 40,481-sq.-m. property to Ayala Land for P2.75 billion in the
next 50 years as the transaction does not require an approval from the CoA.
“We can start already with the lease.
There is no impediment. There is no temporary restraining order or injunction.
Under the law, there is no need to review and approve the transaction,” she
said.
Ms. Manayon said CoA Circular 92-386
and the Local Government Code of 1991 require a review of a contracts only when
they pertain to a sale or disposal of properties.
“A lease is not disposal because the
ownership (of the property) remains with the province,” she said, adding the
lease contract was nevertheless submitted to CoA.
“We submitted it for transparency’s
sake, to show CoA the impact of the project in its entirety to the economic
progress of Bacolod City and Negros Occidental,” she said.
The deed of conditional sale and
contract of lease for a 7.7-hectare land amounting to more than P3.5 billion
were submitted by the provincial government to the CoA on July 11, 2011. After
this, both contracts were ratified by the Provincial Board on April 30. -- N.
L. Guadalquiver
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