Uniwide out of Baguio market devt deal

The city government has shut the door on the defunct Uniwide Sales and Realty Development Corp. as its partner in the development of the Baguio public market.

Mayor Benjamin Magalong admitted having met with the new set of lawyers of the corporation last week in Manila where Uniwide proposed some conditions for the company to be still part of the project to allow it to recover the alleged P300 million it incurred during the pendency of the case.

Magalong, however, informed the Uniwide lawyers that the company’s proposals to be able to be part of the implementation of the market modernization project were unacceptable.

Among Uniwide’s proposals was for it to be allowed to invite business partners in the implementation, or for it to sell the project to a liquid developer so that it can recover its losses during the pendency of the case.

The case was filed by market vendors’ associations that questioned the constitutionality of the market development ordinance and the validity of the contract entered into between the company and the city government on Aug. 24, 1996.

The mayor said the city government was firm in pursuing the development of the market, in partnership with concerned stakeholders, to meet current needs.

Having a modern public market is part of the city administration’s 15-point agenda.

Earlier, the city government informed the court-assigned liquidator of Uniwide that it already considered the market development contract between them and that the city opposes the proposed assignment of the same to a subsidiary.

In turn, the city created a technical working group composed of private and public architects to prepare a comprehensive conceptual plan of the market that will be the basis for a detailed project feasibility study.

In 1995, the City Council passed Ordinance 38 prescribing guidelines for the proposed development of the public market that resulted in the crafting of the plans that paved the way for the conduct of a bidding for the P1.7-billion market development, based on previous computations.

On Aug. 24, 1996, the city government awarded the market development project to Uniwide, being the lone complying and responsive bidder, but the same was questioned by some groups of market vendors.

THe vendors assailed the award of the contract and the case dragged for over 20 years because of rulings of the lower and appellate courts in favor of the city government’s market development plan.

The plan supposdedly would have made the market one of the most modern structures north of Metro Manila.