UHRI tells court: We have the expertise

The Universal Hotels and Resorts Inc. (UHRI) says it has the technical and financial capacity to undertake the P18-billion integrated resort and casino project on Kawit Island in the South Road Properties (SRP).

In response to a complaint filed against the project, UHRI, in a memorandum to the court, pointed out that even if it is a newly-formed corporation, it is financially capable of undertaking the project.

UHRI said Robinsons Bank guaranteed the Cebu City Government with P1.8 billion and JG Summit Holdings Inc. (JGSHI) issued a financial statement supporting UHRI amounting to P18 billion.

UHRI is an affiliate of the Gokongwei Group of Companies, which has investments in property development, food and beverage sector and airline industry.

UHRI is among the named respondents of a case filed by Busay Councilor Amilo Lopez, in a bid to stop the City Government from entering into a joint venture agreement ( JVA) with UHRI.

The City and UHRI will jointly develop Kawit Island through the JVA.

Lopez, in his complaint, said UHRI does not have the technical and financial capacity to undertake the project provided under the Joint Venture Ordinance, among others.

“With all due respect to the petitioner, all successful corporations that ventured into different development projects had to start somewhere. This is the policy behind the startup of each and every business,” read a portion of UHRI’s memorandum.

UHRI said that aside from being affiliated with JGSHI, the new corporation can also draw expertise, experience and resources from Robinsons Land Corp., which is a known real estate developer.

Earlier, the City Government asked the court to dismiss the petition and argued that the application for a temporary restraining order (TRO) and writ of preliminary injunction must be denied pursuant to Sections 3 and 4 of Republic Act (RA) 8975, an act ensuring the expeditious implementation and completion of government infrastructure projects by prohibiting lower courts from issuing TROs, preliminary injunctions or preliminary mandatory injunctions.

The law states that only the Supreme Court can issue such orders and that any TRO, preliminary injuction or preliminary mandatory injuction issued in violation of the law is considered null and void. /