Here is the story: During his abridged term as Pasay City Mayor, Wenceslao "Peewee" Trinidad announced that a 3.25 hectare property of the Public Estates Authority (PEA) at the reclamation area in Pasay would become the new site of the Pasay City Hall and the Pasay Hall of Justice. Peewee said then that the present city hall buildings would become the City High School – Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Pasay.

The land came to the city government by way of a compromise agreement. Pasay City would abandon plans to auction off PEA properties in the Pasay reclamation area in exchange for the site of the new City Hall.

Peewee has been in public service in Pasay for over 20 years – four years as councilor, six years as vice-mayor in the ‘80s, another six years as vice-mayor in the ‘90s, and four years as Mayor during the split terms of President Estrada and President Arroyo. In 2007, he was again the mayor.

Peewee wants to leave behind as his legacy, a modern city hall for Pasay. Mayor Trinidad applied for a loan with the Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB). In 2006, however, Pewee and most of his councilors were suspended by the Ombudsman for six months.

Several councilors were left to run the city. On March 12, 2007 during the term of Mayor Allan Panaligan, Young Builders Corp. won the bidding for the P599 million city hall project. Gilbert Yu, the president of Young Builders, received P45 million as an advance.

When Trinidad returned as Mayor after the 2007 elections, he again pursued his project.

On June 17, 2008, armed with a City Council resolution authorizing him to do so, Mayor Trinidad signed the Loan Agreement with the Philippine Veterans Bank and immediately sent this to the City Council for its endorsement.

The City Council presided by Vice Mayor Tony Calixto, however, had other ideas. The Sangguniang Panglungsod (SP) ordered YBC to return the P45 million advance payment due to what the SP alleged were irregularities in the contract.

On November 11, 2008, YBC wrote the Mayor to inquire if the loan agreement had been ratified. This was endorsed by Mayor Peewee to the City Council. Because the City Council ignored the Mayor’s endorsement, YBC decided to sue the City.

When the case was filed, City legal officer Phydias Emmanuel R. Ramos informed the SP about it and inquired on the status of the loan agreement. No response. So, the legal office filed an answer to the Court.

On February 25, 2009, Atty. Ramos informed the SP that the Court had issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) in favor of YBC. Still, no answer from the Council.

Then, the SP applied with the Court to hire private lawyers to argue the case. This was thrown out by the judge who pointed out that the litigant was the City and not the individual councilors. Thus, said the judge, the City’s Legal Officer was the proper person to argue the case.

YBC explained to the Court that it had spent P46 million for the ongoing construction at the reclamation area along Diosdado Macapagal Avenue. It thus wanted a TRO against the SP’s order.

YBC’s projects include the SM malls in Cebu and Iloilo and the Quezon City Hall building. Thus, YBC is an actual and competent construction company.

In fact, YBC complained to the Court that the SP was unduly delaying action over a required resolution that would have ratified the city’s Loan Agreement and Deeds of Assignment with the PVB for it to release the project fund.

This is where things now stand. Time has caught up with Pasay City. It recently received an extension for ratifying the loan Agreement, which should have been finished last March 11.

The Court also issued a preliminary mandatory injunction compelling the SP to ratify the loan agreement with the Philippine Veterans Bank since this would fund the construction of the four-story edifice and Hall of Justice that YBC was supposed to build.

As an outsider, I am intrigued by the mystery of why the SP would authorize the Mayor to sign a loan agreement and then take its own sweet time about ratifying the agreement? The only reason that comes to mind is that even in issuing its ratification, the SP members apparently wanted something extra from either the mayor or the contractor or both.

This is not money that is already with Pasay City. The City is borrowing P599 million from a bank to build itself a new City Hall on land that was arranged for by Mayor Peewee Trinidad. If this is what it looks like, it really is pretty awful for the residents of Pasay. Even money that has not yet been borrowed has already become the object of covetous designs.

What then do these councilors really want? Did they hear that the Panaligan councilors made something and wanted their share, too? Mayor Peewee commented that, if the old SP made money off the advance given YBC, the proper action would be to sue them in court, not delay the ratification of the loan.

Frankly, I cannot see what else could possibly delay any further the ratification of the loan agreement. Is there some defect in the plan for the new city hall? Are they against building on reclaimed land? Are they even against the borrowing?

To all of these questions, the Pasay SP refuses to give an official or even an unofficial answer. It did not reject loan agreement, which was signed by the Mayor on the authority that was granted by the SP. So, why is this still not being ratified?

The people who live in Pasay ought to concern themselves with this issue.

It seems to me that their councilors want something extra for doing what is clearly their job – the ratification of the City’s contact with the PVB. What else could possibly be still bothering them if not what people suspect of them?

***

To all media golfers: I played in the 2nd Gov. Jonjon Media Invitational Golf Cup at the Royal Northwoods in San Rafael, Bulacan. It was a lot of fun. Great course, ganda ng raffle and prizes and – oo nga pala – Joel Zobel of GMA, a new golfer, was awarded a trophy for a hole-in-one, duly certified by the provincial administrator.

We all had fun and all went home with a lot of goodies. Next time, all media golfers ought to join. Don’t miss the 3rd Gov. Jonjon Media Golf Cup!