TREES or a casino? Several reports from the Commission on Audit from 2014 to July 2020 confirm that a 25-year lease contract had been signed between the Nayong Pilipino Foundation (NPF) and Resorts World Bayshore City Inc. (RWBCI), the integrated casino developer of Megaworld Corp. Forged on August 20, 2014, the contract is for the “[development and operation] of an integrated hotel and casino project at the NPF property at the Manila Bay Reclamation Area in Parañaque City.”
COA also noted in its report in July 2020, the NPF received P1 billion in advance lease payments from RWBCI. Moreover, NPF “did not collect the estimated VAT [value-added tax] in the amount of P120 million corresponding to 12 percent of the P1-billion advance rental from [RWBCI], hence, no VAT was remitted to the BIR [Bureau of Internal Revenue]; instead NPF collected VAT from RWBCI monthly, equivalent to the VAT of the monthly lease rental. Likewise, no Official Receipt [OR] was issued for the collection of the P1-billion advance rental, rather the OR is issued monthly to RWBCI, equivalent to the monthly lease rental, despite the actual amount collected is for the VAT only. Such arrangement is contrary to Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 16-2013.”
It would be recalled that President Duterte fired the entire board of NPF in August 2018, for entering into a contract with a separate Hong Kong gaming resort developer, Landing International, that was deemed grossly disadvantageous to the government. (See, “Duterte bans casino at new Nayong Pilipino park in Parañaque,” in the BusinessMirror, October 18, 2019.)
Mega-vaxx site, a vacant lot
The NPF Board is currently blocking moves to establish a mega-vaccination facility on the foundation’s property along New Seaside Boulevard in Parañaque City, claiming 500 trees would be felled for the project. The proposed area for the mega-vaxx center is actually a vacant lot, devoid of trees, on the site where the RWBCI’s casino and hotel would rise, according to government and private sector sources.
BusinessMirror sources claimed the board was protecting its lease contract with Megaworld/RWBCI, whose lease rentals will develop its planned Sambayanihan project, a forest park and cultural haven for artists. (See, “Megaworld deal raised in Nayon vaxx site row,” in the BusinessMirror, May 10, 2021.)
The Sambayanihan project was supposed to have been funded by the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority to the tune of P2 billion, but stalled because the latter had to give up its funds for government’s anti-Covid efforts. The lease payments of RWBCI are currently held in trust, according to the COA. These funds cannot be touched until the Department of Justice renders a favorable opinion on the contract between NPF and RWBCI. But sources averred, NPF already used a “portion of the funds” held in trust for its operations.
In 2014, COA questioned the validity of the contract between NPF and RWBCI. In its report that year, the agency said, “Lease contract entered into by the Foundation was made without public bidding contrary to Section 531, Chapter 2 Volume I of the Government Accounting and Auditing Manual on Revenue Generating Contracts, thus, the validity and propriety of the contract and the reasonableness of the terms of the lease and rental rates could not be ascertained.”
Lease terms
Under the lease agreement, “rentals shall be for P102.039 million annually with a two-year grace period, subject to 5 percent escalation every five years beginning on the 7th year. The lessee paid an advance rental of P1.0 billion for 20 years, which was discounted at 5 percent.”
The NPF even then, “did not present comparative figures to show that the rental rates set for the lease contract were reasonable, as required by EO 301 [Decentralizing Actions on Government Negotiated Contracts, Lease Contracts and Records Disposal]”, according to the COA report.
Meanwhile, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in his news briefing on Monday that he didn’t know if President Duterte had already accepted the resignation of NPF Executive Director Lucille Karen Malilong-Isberto as trustee.
Malilong-Isberto on Monday broke her silence and explained some of the issues raised in connection with the NPF stand on the mega vaxx facility. (See related story on A10, “Ex-Nayon Foundation chief: Mega-vaxx site not part of national plan.”)
“I don’t have any news if her [Malilong-Isberto] resignation was accepted. But we are appealing to the Nayong Pilipino Board…that whatever their decisions are, they won’t contradict the important mission of caring for the lives of our fellow Filipinos. The establishment of the mega-vaccination facility at Nayong Pilipino is pursuant to the inherent police powers of our President, that is, to protect everyone’s right to health,” he said in Taglish. [See, “Galvez urges Nayon execs: Let mega-vaxx center proceed,” in the BusinessMirror, May 10, 2021.)
He stressed that NPF is a government-owned and -controlled corporation “which is under the supervision of our President.”
3 comments
Get your facts straight, Stela Arnaldo you paid hack.
Careful, Stela Arnaldo. You are not giving factual information. That Landing Issue was not under the term of Malilong Isberto but Mitch Ocampo. And Ocampo was replaced.
Omy goodness. You are mixing things up! The former board that approved the resort-casino project is not the same as the current board. The current Nayong Pilipino plans to build a creative hub and an urban park.
https://nayongpilipino.gov.ph/npf-programs/heritage-space/sambayanihan/?fbclid=IwAR1U8OX53L-qcAvTI2Bimp50aQnb3HB4rJsetDz8twO3O8xb_c3WbFgyiso