Palace: Nayong Pilipino’s ‘void’ contract ‘definitely cancelled’
MALACANANG on Friday said the Nayong Pilipino Foundation’s lease contract with a Hong Kong casino developer was “definitely cancelled” since it was void from the start.
Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. made the statement on Friday after the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigated the venture and submitted its report to President Rodrigo Duterte this week.
“The Department of Justice (DOJ) has formally submitted its findings on its review of the lease contract between the Nayong Pilipino Foundation, Inc (NPFI) and Landing Resorts Philippines Development Corp. (LRPDC) to the Office of the President. It characterized the contract as being void ab initio (from the beginning),” Roque said during a press briefing.
Quoting Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarea, Roque said the contract of LRPDC with Nayong Pilipino was “a Build-Operate Transfer (BOT) contract disguised as a lease contract.”
“Because it is a BOT project, it should have complied with the BOT law, including public bidding,” he said, adding that the agreement was “definitely cancelled.”
Roque said the DOJ decision “rebuts” the claim of sacked NFP board of trustees chairperson Patricia Yvette Ocampo that public bidding was not required for the deal.
Ocampo cited the Government Procurement Reform Act in saying that contracts of lease were exempt from procurement requirements
“This, of course, rebuts the public advertisement paid for by former officials of the Nayong Pilipino. Again, I reiterate, the DOJ has joined the President in concluding the contract is void ab initio,” Roque said.
Duterte fired the NFP board members for entering a contract of lease with LRPDC, subsidiary of Hong Kong-based casino builder Landing International, that was supposedly “grossly disadvantageous” to government.
Asked if charges would be filed against the dismissed NPFI officials, Roque said he hoped the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) and the Ombudsman would investigate those involved in the deal.
“I hope the Presidential Commission on Corruption will take the lead and file the necessary complaint with the Ombudsman, or I hope the Ombudsman, under the new Ombudsman, will initiate motu proprio investigation dahil kailangan naman po talagang mapanagot ang mga pumasok sa ganitong kontrata,” he said.
Landing International Development said in a filing to the Hong Kong exchange on August 23 that its chairman, Yang Zhihui, could not be found, sending its stock price tumbling.
Maria Fema Duterte, a distant relative of the President, had filed criminal and administrative complaints before the Ombudsman on May 2 against her fellow NPFI board members, including Ocampo.
The complaints alleged that government could lose P25 billion in 50 years under the contract.
NFP and LRPDC envisioned a Filipino-inspired theme park called NayonLanding that would rise from a 9.5-hectare piece of land owned by NFP in Parañaque City.
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