"The CoA finding on the joint venture agreement dates back to the time of former President Noynoy Aquino."
"The CoA finding on the joint venture agreement dates back to the time of former President Noynoy Aquino."
In its latest report, the Commission on Audit declared that the government had suffered huge losses in the Joint Venture Agreement entered into between the state-owned IBC 13 and the Reghis Romero-owned R-II Builders/Primestate Venture Inc. concerning the 3.6402-hectare property of the television network.
According to CoA, while the original agreement was for R-II Builders to build condominium units which they would rent to the public with the income shared by both signatories to the JVA, the agreement was amended by Romero into a contract to sell, declaring he was assuming ownership of the property as he had already paid in full for the said property.
The state auditors said that if the JVA was for the creation of a partnership between IBC 13 and R-II Builders, then the state-owned television network should have been reaping profits from whatever the joint project was making.
However, the provision on the amended JVA, according to CoA, showed that ”the joint venture undertaking had been aborted as the transaction between the contracting parties can be considered as sale of IBC-13 property.”
And if indeed it was converted into a sale, there was a gross violation of the law which would necessitate the nullification of the sale.
CoA insists that the “For sale” deal was in violation of Section 79 of Presidential Decree No. 1445 or the Government Audit Code; and Sections 2 and 3 of Executive Order No. 888 dated March 1983 which laid the down the disposal of state property by department of agency heads.
Also, the fact that it was only the president of IBC 13 and Romero who signed the amended JVA was highly irregular. And if it was a sale, there should have been a bidding in that regard.
Actually, the CoA finding on the JVA between IBC 13 and R-II dates back to the time of former President Noynoy Aquino.
In its 2011 audit report, CoA bared the highly anomalous deal entered into between the government-sequestered television network and the real estate developer, although no charges have yet been filed in court to date.
According to the CoA 2011 audit report, IBC-13 entered into a joint venture agreement with R-II, using its property as its share in exchange for cash and the construction of the new Broadcast City.
Under the JVA, RII Builders will construct condominium buildings and will profit from selling the units. In return, the real estate developer will pay IBC-13 a total P728 million in the following manner: P150-million cash within two years from the signing of the JVA; P450 million comprising of the construction and development of a new Broadcast City; and P128-million cash to be paid until 2016.
However, CoA, in its report, said the IBC-13 property, which is a little more than 3.64 hectares of prime lot, was greatly undervalued at P9,999 per square meter as set forth in the JVA entered shortly after the 2010 elections.
According to CoA, the property could have fetched at a high of P22,000 per square meter at that time, saying the government could have easily lost at least P1 billion from the deal.
Faced by the adverse CoA observation, RII Builders reportedly agreed to adjust the total financial package from original amount of P728 million to P800 million and its conversion into an all-cash transaction.
But even before the new offer could be approved, CoA bared the JVA was already implemented with the IBC-13 issuing a deed of assignment in favor of RII Builders and accepting P60 million in 2010.
And while the House of Representatives conducted a congressional inquiry on that matter, the House Committee on Good Government which spearheaded the investigation of the questionable deal in the 15th Congress, it only conducted only one hearing and did not even submit its findings.
And now, the amendment converting the JVA into a sale of the property. With properties in the area reportedly commanding a price of no less than P60,000 per square meter today, the IBC 13 lot could easily fetch more than P2 billion.
But so much for the latest CoA findings as it had discovered anomalies in the agreement between the television network and Romero as early as 2011. The issue now is, what is its next move?
Can it now recommend the filing of appropriate charges against the concerned personalities if not initiate the filing of charges itself?
People would really would love to hear from the CoA.