ANOTHER TALE OF MISSING CONTRACT

Building permit on hold

It’s the same story all over again. There is another contract signed by the city government that nobody has seen.

Metrostate Realty Corporation is forging ahead with the construction of a P84-million tourism park development project at the former Magsaysay Market, giving the impression that it has a contract signed by Mayor Benjamin Lim.

But nobody has seen a copy of the contract.

Even Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez, now the acting mayor as Lim is running for the congressional seat in the fourth district, has confirmed that Lim already signed the contract but admitted he has yet to see it.

He described the contract as illegal since the city council has not signed and forwarded the resolution giving Lim the authority to do so.

The construction work reportedly started even before the onset of the election ban for public works projects which took effect March 30 without a building permit issued by the city engineer’s office to date. (The PUNCH reported last week that the construction activities had been   suspended by the unidentified Metrostate contractor).

Acting Mayor Fernandez warned that Metrostate’s  officers are now culpable not only for violating the city’s ordinance but for proceeding in bad faith with the intention of defrauding the city government.

Metrostate, headed by Architect Mark F. Siapno, has refused to issue any statement on the controversy from the very    beginning and again has not made any effort to clarify whether it has the contract supposedly signed between it and Mayor Lim, in its position.

It will be recalled that JDL Motor and Towing Services operated in the city on the strength supposedly of a contract signed by the city government only to find out that not one office in the city hall has seen the contract, thus prompting it to terminate its services to escape a formal investigation by the city council.

The other Metrostate directors are Romualdo Siapno, Maureen Y. Chua, Mary Karen C. Monzon, Mark Alvin P. Dy and Alexander Siapno. 

The office of City Engineer Virginia Rosario has confirmed that her office received an application for a building permit from the company but action was withheld pending the submission of other documentary requirements, including a copy of the contract.

She also denied having seen a copy of the supposed signed contract between the city government and Metrostate that would authorize it to start construction in the government’s property.

The resolution granting approval apparently remains pending as the condition stipulated in the resolution, requiring that the copy of the signed committee report as well as the transcript of minutes duly approved by the members of the council, be attached to the resolution itself, has not been fulfilled.

Fernandez, who sits as head of the city council, said he cannot transmit the approved resolution to the office of Lim because Councilor Teofilo Guadiz III has not signed his committee report.

Moreover, the councilors who approved the   resolution refuse to affix   their signatures to the transcript unless the committee report is signed.

Fernandez said he has asked the office of Lim to furnish the city council a copy of the signed contract as he expressed fears that unless this is presented this could be a repeat of the so-called contract with JLD Motorworks Service which no one was aware of.

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