Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan denied a statement quoted by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) Web site on the need to collect P3 million in back rentals from Camp John Hay Development Corp.
In his weekly Ugnayang Panlungsod program, Domogan told reporters he was baffled as to how that statement came out in the national press.
In a BCDA press statement still posted on its Web site, Domogan was quoted to have said “we are one in collecting the P3 billion,” supposedly referring  to BCDA president Arnel Casanova’s pushing for the collection of that amount in alleged due lease rentals from CJH DevCo.
The latter has maintained that they were up to date in their payments to the BCDA. In fact CJH DevCo brought the case with BCDA to arbitration last January due to BCDA’s continuing defaults and breaches.
CJH DevCo executive vice president and COO Alfredo Yñiguez said the CJH DevCo rescinded its agreement with the BCDA in January 2011, submitting the case to arbitration as required by its contract, after BCDA continuously breached its guarantee to issue development permits to CJH DevCo.
Domogan expressed his agreement with the decision of Regional Trial Court Branch 6 Acting Presiding Judge Cecilia Dulay-Archog which ordered the BCDA to submit itself to the arbitration process that CJH DevCo initiated.
The mayor said that instead of arbitrarily pushing for the collection of fees, the BCDA must submit itself to arbitration with CJHDevCo at the Philippine Dispute Resolution Center, as stipulated in their contract.
Domogan also stressed that the arbitration would detail how much the lessee truly owed the government, adding that he wished to determine “what is the right collectible amount based on what is legal and equitable. That is precisely why the matter is subject of an arbitration with PDRCI.”
He added that the city was finalizing its stand on issues surrounding the Camp John Hay dispute, both BCDA and CJHDevCo and other concerned agencies, including the Office of the President will be furnished copies of its position paper, Domogan said.
The mayor said it was only through arbitration that a compromise may be reached.
Meanwhile, Yñiguez said “we have been working on finding a ‘win-win’ solution to give the most that we can to the government as well as the City of Baguio. That is why our counter offer to BCDA will give the government not only P3 billion but over P8 billion in revenues. It behooves us why BCDA would reject this and insist on an amount that would not be most beneficial to the government, especially to the City of Baguio.”