By EUGENE ADIONG
BACOLOD City — The new civil case that SM Prime Holdings, Inc. filed against the provincial government and Ayala Land, Inc. may affect the timeline of Ayala’s development project here, Vice Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said.
SM sought to nullify the agreement between the capitol and Ayala regarding the development of a 7.7-hectare capitol property here.
Like the previous cases SM filed against the capitol and Ayala, this new one may further delay the multibillion-peso development project, Lacson said.
Worse, all Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) members were named as respondents in the civil case, the vice governor, who presides the SP, stressed.
Lacson said Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. requested the SP to allow him to represent the Board in the case. “This is good,” he said, “so we could have one thought in answering the civil case.”
All respondents were given 15 days to answer the case.
Marañon had said the provincial government will file a damage suit against SM if the property development company does not stop filing cases.
He said the “derailment” of Ayala’s development project affects people in the province.
Assistant Provincial Legal Officer Mary Ann Manayon–Lamis said the new civil case was based on the same deal SM had been questioning.
“We have already perfected the contracts,” she stressed.
Lamis said the capitol and Ayala signed a contract for the lease and another for the sale of portions of the 7.7-hectare property.
She said the nullification case may delay the sale but not the lease.
She insisted, though, that SM did not pray for a temporary restraining order (TRO) or an injunction in this new case.
Only a TRO can stop the contracts, she stressed./PN
