A solon has filed a resolution urging the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability to probe the alleged illegal claims and onerous changes to the government contract of DM Wenceslao Corp. against the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) in connection with the Central Bay Project.
The investigation in aid of legislation was sought by 1-PACMAN Party-list Rep. Enrico Pineda via House Resolution (HR) No. 2611.
Pineda said that in September 1989, DM Wenceslao and Associates along with three other companies, collectively known as the R-1 Consortium, entered into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the then -ublic Estates Authority (PEA, now the PRA) for a construction and reclamation project.
The R-1 Consortium, pursuant to the MOA and an implementing agreement, opted to be paid in land, then yet to be reclaimed.
"After several years of delay and extensions, sometime in 2007, the consortium, despite the prevailing jurisprudence in the case of Chavez v. Public Estates Authority, G.R. No. 133250, dated May 6, 2003, DM Wenceslao Corp. has been hounding, pestering and harassing the PRA to issue Transfer Certificate of Titles (TCT) to reclaimed lands in their favor," Pineda said.
He said that pertinent provisions in the prevailing jurisprudence as cited in the case reads:
"Under the 1935 Constitution, private corporations were allowed to acquire alienable lands of the public domain.
"But since the 1973 Constitution, private corporations were barred from holding, except by lease, alienable lands of the public domain. The 1987 Constitution continued this constitutional prohibition. The prevailing law, before, during and after signing of the amended JVA is that private corporations cannot hold, except by lease, alienable lands of the public domain.
"The decision has not annulled or in any way changed the law on this matter. The decision whether made retroactive or not, does not change the law since the decision merely reiterates the law that prevailed since the 1973 Constitution."
"But despite this, for years on end, DM Wenceslao Corp. had been very brazen in demanding their illegal claim against the PRA in the form of issuance of Transfer Certificate of Titles (TCT) to their name," Pineda also said.
Citing an opinion from the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC), the lawmaker said that the OGCC has categorically stated that the MOA entered into between PRA and R-1 Consortium in September 14, 1989, should be evaluated in light of the constitutional prohibition that private corporations cannot hold alienable lands of public domain except by lease.
Pineda said that various government offices also found that certain provisions in the implementation agreement of the MOA was onerous and disadvantageous to the PEA.
Pineda pointed out that government institutions and agencies must remain free from any harassment or attacks from power and influence-wielding private corporations that seek to earn profit for whatever cause even at the expense of the government.
It is for this reason, he said, that he is urging the House of Representatives to investigate the case through the Good Government and Public Accountability panel.