By ADRIAN STEWART CO and PRINCE GOLEZ
MANILA – The controversial deal entered into by Nayong Pilipino Foundation (NPF) and a Hong Kong casino developer was void from the start, Malacañang said on Friday.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said the joint venture was a build-operate-transfer (BOT) agreement disguised as a lease, quoting a report from the Department of Justice (DOJ).
“The DOJ report has joined the President in concluding that the contract is void ab initio or void from the beginning,” Roque said. “We also urge the Ombudsman to investigate those involved in the deal.”
“According to the Secretary of Justice, the contract of Landing [International Development Ltd] with Nayong Pilipino is a BOT contract disguised as a lease contract. Because it is a BOT project, it should have complied with the BOT law including public bidding,” he added.
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier fired the entire Nayong Pilipino board following the state corporation’s contract with the Philippine unit of Landing International, which he described as “flawed” and “gravely disadvantageous.”
Under the lease contract, the Hong Kong-based corporation will build a $1.5-billion casino resort on Nayong Pilipino property in Entertainment City.
Maria Fema Duterte, a distant relative of the President, had filed criminal and administrative complaints before the Ombudsman on May 2 against her fellow NPF board members, including then chairwoman Patricia Yvette Ocampo.
The complaints alleged that government could lose P25 billion in 50 years under the contract.
The sacked NPF board, in a paid newspaper advertisement, defended on Wednesday its lease contract, saying that it was “absolutely legal.”
Ocampo also clarified that the deal was only for a 25-year period, not 70 years./PN
