By Ray S.
Eñano | Posted on Dec. 20, 2012 at 12:01am
http://manilastandardtoday.com
Businessman
Robert John “Bob” Sobrepeña of the Fil-Estate Group, after running out of
friends in Manila Southwoods Golf and Country Club in Carmona, Cavite, may soon
lose control of his remaining golf clubs and real estate possessions.
The grapevine
said President Benigno Aquino III himself had taken interest in the complaints
against Bob, especially the businessman’s public squabble with the Bases
Conversion Development Authority over the non-payment of lease rentals to the
state agency.
The BCDA
board recently met with some disgruntled members of the Manila Southwoods Golf
and Country Club in Carmona, Cavite, presumably to build the agency’s case
against Bob. The grapevine said BCDA was serious in seeking redress from any
unlawful business practice that had taken place in its jurisdiction and
pursuing criminal and administrative actions against individuals mocking its
authority.
President
Aquino, meanwhile, is creating a task force on justice and internal revenue to
zero in on Bob, who has refused to pay his rental dues to the BCDA. “I think
what President Aquino is trying to do this time is to corral hoodlums in
business suits, much like his campaign against hoodlums in robes,” one source
said.
Trouble in
golf courses
Camp John Hay
may prove to be Bob’s biggest headache but the hazards he faces in several golf
courses are equally daunting. His tussle with the reform group of Southwoods
was well-publicized, culminating in the suspension of members for one year
beginning June 15, after the reformist group questioned the management and
leadership of Bob’s group.
Bob’s woes
are not limited to Southwoods. Over at the Forest Hills Residential Estates and
Golf & Country Club in Cogeo, Antipolo City, lot owner Johnson Ong canceled
his joint venture agreement with Fil-Estate Land Inc., which has been renamed
Global-Estate Resorts Inc., after tycoon Andrew Tan acquired a 60-percent stake
in Fil- Estate Land. The spat left golfers and members with little privileges
and amenities, except perhaps the cool fresh mountain air of Antipolo.
The Sherwood
Hills Golf Club in Trece Martirez City, Cavite, however, is a different story.
Things have turned around in the 18-hole golf course after a new management
team took over, Southwood’s reform group
noted. From a monthly operating
expenditure of some P5.5 million to P6 million, the club is now just spending
P3.5 million to P4.2 million.
Southwoods’
members said Sherwood posted savings on security and golf course maintenance
expenses. Bob’s team used to take care of the supply of security guards and
maintenance services and equipment of Sherwood. Southwoods members sighed that
Sherwoods was now in a much better condition than in the past and that golf
share values were appreciating.
The discontented
Southwoods golfers are hoping that tycoon Andrew Tan will become more active in
handling the affairs of the golf courses he inherited from Bob. Tan indirectly
owns two subsidiaries of Global-Estate, after purchasing a 60-percent interest
in the erstwhile Sobrepeña company. These are Fil-Estate Properties Inc. and
Fil-Estate Golf and Development Inc., which are both engaged in the development
of residential subdivisions, townhouses, golf course communities, condominiums,
office buildings, industrial estates and resort communities.
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