Reclamation tug-of-war

Whose project is it?

We’re talking about a deal to reclaim land in Mandaue City in Cebu that is the subject of a tug of war between D.M. Wenceslao and Associates and Harbour Centre that has, as expected, reached the courts.

In particular, D.M. Wenceslao—through its subsidiary Mandaue Land Consortium —recently asked the Court of Appeals to nullify a Pasig court decision that ordered the implementation of the reclamation project that was voided years earlier by a government agency.

While the court decision favored the consortium led by Harbour Centre, the project was actually voided by the Construction Industry Arbitration Commission (CIAC). Why? Because it was already granted to the Wenceslao group more than a decade earlier.

In a statement, D.M. Wenceslao said it had not been informed about the case while the court was not informed about the project even if the city government—under a new mayor —was part of the case.

The Pasig court issued its decision in December 2020, but the Wenceslao group only learned about it in November 2021.

The Mandaue City government, then under Mayor Thadeo Ouano, awarded the project to Wenceslao in 2001 after a public bidding.

But in May 2010, Jonas Cortes became the city mayor and refused to honor the award to the Wenceslao group, claiming there was no consultation with the Philippine Reclamation Authority and approval from the President.

He then negotiated and signed a new reclamation contract in 2014 with the Harbour Centre group.

The Wenceslao group filed an arbitration case with the CIAC to declare the validity of its contract and to compel the city to implement its project, and won. CIAC issued a writ of execution in 2018.

But in June 2020, a subcontractor of the Harbour Centre group asked the Pasig court for the enforcement of its contract under the voided project.

The Wenceslao group said the Mandaue City government, in its filings, never mentioned the prior project and the CIAC decision, keeping the court in the dark and preventing the group from intervening.

As such, the company said the project could not proceed until the national government had cleared the areas of illegal claimants—a process that is still under way. But will it proceed anyway? Abangan!

—Daxim L. Lucas

Fiscal transition

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III shed some bucks after losing a bet that his successor would be announced by President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. early last week.

But as transition talks with incoming Department of Finance (DOF) chief Benjamin Diokno begin this week, nothing’s really been lost as far as continuity in government is concerned.

Dominguez told reporters that he “spoke briefly” with the current BSP Governor on Wednesday, the same day when the DOF unveiled its proposed fiscal consolidation plan, which President Duterte’s economic team hoped the Marcos administration would consider.

Fiscal consolidation meant new and higher taxes planned for 2023 to 2025 to repay ballooning COVID-19 debts, something that Diokno, based on his TV interview last week, wasn’t too excited about.

Still, Dominguez said he and Diokno had planned to meet soon to discuss transition issues.

Dominguez said that unlike the Aquino to Duterte administrations’ transition in mid-2016 when “there was no plan” turned over by his predecessor, Cesar Purisima, “this time, we have a plan.”

Dominguez’s chief of staff Ira Zamudio said Diokno would be given an overview of the roles and structures of specific departments or groups at the DOF.

We hope Dominguez won’t take it personally against Diokno, as he shelled out at least P500 from betting that incoming President Marcos would likely reveal who his Secretary of Finance is at the start of last week. Marcos did so during a briefing on Thursday.

Among Finance officials who placed their bets during last week’s executive committee meeting, we’ve heard Undersecretaries Antonette Tionko and Mark Dennis Joven, who had predicted Marcos’ choice of DOF chief known by Thursday or Friday, will be laughing all the way to the bank.

—Ben O. de Vera

Profitable exit

After three years, Converge ICT Solutions saw the full exit of its private equity investor, the US-based Warburg Pincus.

The announced exit was followed by the sale of Converge shares by Warburg Pincus’ affiliate, Coherent Cloud Investments, which pocketed its final “multibagger” profit since the fiber internet giant’s initial public offering in 2020.

Warburg isn’t severing ties despite unloading its full position.

Saurabh Agarwal, managing director of Warburg Pincus, will continue to remain on Converge’s board.

It might seem an early exit considering Converge’s rapidly growing business but we’re sure the fund had their own reasons amid the present tumultuous global investment climate.

Warburg Pincus’ $225-million investment in Converge in 2019 was a milestone deal as it was their first major transaction in the Philippines.

The fruits of that investment are clearly visible looking at the size of Converge’s network today.

—Miguel R. Camus

Email us at [email protected]

Join our Viber community: inq.news/inqbusinesscommunity