Punchline
Fire sale of MC Adore set
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
THERE is another potential complaint that will be filed vs. Mayor Benjie Lim, members of the Appraisal Committee, the city assessor and the Judas 9 before the Ombudsman. The expected fire sale of the MC Adore property will be another open-and-shut case for violating the anti-graft and corruption law.
Just as I and many feared, the Lim administration unconscionably laid the premise for a transaction grossly disadvantageous to the Dagupan City government via the Appraisal Committee’s deliberate misleading appraisal of the property.
The Appraisal Committee recommended a minimum-bidding price of P100 M, an amount that would permanently injure the city. By using a measly P15,000 per sq.m., the claimed zonal value of the land, as basis for determining the lots’ value is a clear attempt to cheat the city big time. A realtor worth his salt knows that a huge commercial property in the vicinity of the market, a school, the church and the plaza surely can fetch at least 80% more. Besides, everyone knows that a zonal value is only used as basis by the BIR for minimum tax assessment and never used by anyone in his right mind as a basis for quoting a selling price, worse for bidding purposes. (Note: The City Information Office refused to provide the PUNCH a name list of the committee members despite assurances of transparency by Mr. Lim. Why?).
Will Mr. Lim and the members of the Appraisal Committee members ever agree to sell their homes and other properties based on zonal values? Of course, not a chance! (But BLS’s pea-brained lapdogs might since they don’t seem to know anything except to sing paeans mindlessly to their Mad Dog Whisperer). But why would the Appraisal Committee members use it as basis to sell MC Adore? For their own share of P1.5 M each?
On the other hand, the Judas 9 of the Dagupan sanggunian, namely Brian Lim, Red Erfe Mejia, Guilllermo Vallejos, Chester Gonzales, Jesus Canto, Luis Samson Jr., Karlos Reyna, Dada Manaois-Reyna and Alvin Coquia know too well that they, too, will be criminally liable soon as they railroad the approval of the Appraisal Committee’s erroneous report, notwithstanding the pending court case filed against them on the same issue. In police parlance, it’s called premeditated murder! Recall that they were charged in court by the sanggunian secretary, Ryan Ravanzo, for their highly irregular procedure in adopting the resolution for the sale of the city’s properties. Would they still do it? That’s again the P1.5 M question!
Mr. Lim, of course, will be charged again (possibly his third, if not the fourth) this time for masterminding the loss of P100 M in income opportunity for the city made possible by his conspirators in the Appraisal Committee, Assessor’s office and city council!
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Going by the Appraisal Committee’s report (signed by all members), one cannot help but suspect that Mr. Lim wants to favor someone (or himself) with a sweetheart deal! A glaring inconsistency in their report is the adoption of a “market value” for the buildings but none for the land obviously to keep the selling price extremely low. It’s the same scheme that the Lim administration’s resorted to for the ultra-cheap lease of the Magsaysay Park to the Metro State Development Corporation (owner of Metro Plaza) for only P1 M a year for 25 years) that many suspect is partly owned by Mr. Lim,).
The members of the Appraisal Committee are, therefore, well-advised to withdraw their submitted appraisal before their names are dragged to a new corruption scandal in the city that would forever taint their individual integrity and status in the community. They must know that the rising sentiment in the city to fight corrupt and dishonest men and women in the city is now palpable. They would be foolish to risk all that they worked for all their lives for one man who doesn’t care one hoot about the consequences to them. (I believe the Judas 9 already knows this too well but I would still hope that some of them will grab the opportunity to redeem themselves by rejecting the fire sale).
If they think they cannot be faulted, think again! The Ombudsman recently indicted members of the Provincial Appraisal committee for technical malversation in Gov. Gwen Garcia’s case for providing erroneous inputs for an irregular transaction that proved disadvantageous to the provincial government.
To the members, don’t say you were not forewarned. Mr. Lim earlier believed no one would dare sue him before the Ombudsman, well, he now has two cases pending before the Ombudsman.
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ABOUT CONSISTENCY. The decision of Regional Trial Court Judge Genoveva Maramba to nullify a section of the 2005 Tax Code of Dagupan in the case filed by Lyceum Northwestern is a landmark decision for local governments units.
The Maramba decision underscored the import of strict observance of and compliance with the law by LGUs. There can be no other interpretation when the law says, the ordinance has to be published in 3 publications, and that a public hearing must be held. I applaud the Maramba decision for it fearlessly upheld the law regardless of the consequence to a local government unit.
However, not a few legal practitioners were dismayed that the court’s consistency ended when the court argued that a refund of taxes sought by Lyceum could not be granted since the petition for refund was not filed earlier. But isn’t it logical that the prayer for a refund could only be justified after the fact (nullification), not before it or at the time when the ordinance is deemed legal, they opined. At any rate, I understand LNU’s lawyer Manuel Manuel is set to appeal the court’s decision on the refund and the legal sector hopes the court will find the courage anew to make the application of the effects of its decision equitable and consistent. After all, once a fair and correct judgment is reached, those affected can move on to correct the defects, negotiate the consequences and reach compromises for everyone’s benefit, but the court with its cold impartiality must stand only for what the law rightfully dictates.
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NO APOLOGIES FROM PLAGIARISTS. The submission of a PUNCH reader last week showing how Mayor Lim blatantly committed plagiarism (lifting from President Obama’s speech and making the thought appear as his own in his Agew na Dagupan speech) is another indication that people are no longer tolerant about anomalies and shenanigans in the city hall.
His irresponsible ghostwriter must have thought that any amount of plagiarism would have no consequence since his principal can own anything without being challenged. He was dead wrong.
This corner has long called the attention of the local print media about the indiscriminate plagiarism by some editors, columnists and contributing teachers in their pages, a contemptible work that brought dishonor to the journalism practice. It is comforting to note that many have since stopped the grossly unethical practice.
In the case of Mayor Lim and his ghostwriter, neither has apologized for their misdemeanor. I guess dishonesty is one “shared responsibility” between them.
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