BCDA terminates lease agreement with CJHDevCo, orders to vacate John Hay

The state-owned Bases Conversion and Development Authority terminated the lease contract of its non-paying lessee, the Camp John Hay Development Corporation and ordered it to vacate the area.

This was disclosed by BCDA President and Chief Executive Officer Atty. Arnel Casanova, in a press conference here, Thursday.

In the Notice of Termination, which was signed by Casanova and addressed to CJHDevCO President Ferdinand Santos and Chief Executive Officer Robert John Sobrepeña, BCDA is also demanding payment of CJHDevCo's outstanding rentals and restricted obligations which stood at Php 3,007,712,654, as of April 2012.

According to Casanova, with such decision they are expecting a lot of hurdles, but as steward of Camp John Hay which is a public property, the termination is something they must do since they have to protect the public's interest.

"We are ready to face any challenge. We stand before you, accountable to you, the public, as our stakeholders," Casanova said.

Casanova enumerated breaches in the lease agreement they signed with CJHDevCo which includes: the failure to pay the annual rent due to the government; failure to open an escrow account and deposit 50 percent of the Common Usage Services Assessment; fraudulent double-sale of a property given as payment to BCDA; violation of fire and safety laws in Camp John Hay Suites; unlawful squatting of CJHDevCo's security agency; subcontracting of the water operations and distribution without BCDA's consent; violation on safety, health, and environment regulations; and CJHDevCo's gross misrepresentation of its financial standing.

"These breaches, which involve disloyal, dishonest, fraudulent, and self-dealing conduct, are so serious that they have fundamentally destroyed and frustrated the purposes, not to mention, the very heart and essence of the contract," Casanova stressed.

"Clearly there is no business, practical, or legal sense for BCDA to continue in partnership with a party that has consistently breached and unjustly refused to comply with its contractual obligation," Casanova added.

John Hay Management Corporation President Jamie Eloise Agbayani, in the same presscon, said the decision is in line with the "Tuwid na Daan" governance of President Bengino Aquino III, and is for the benefit of the people of Baguio and the nearby municipalities of Benguet. She said Php 750 million of the more than Php 3 billion that CJHDevco owes the government will go to them, which could be put or converted to more programs and projects in the community.

Meantime, Agbayani also assured that it is "business as usual" in Camp John Hay and that they are always ready to cater to the tourism sector. - PIA — ARA