Zobel issues rare apology to Roxas Triangle residents zapped by swimming pool
Ayala Land chairman Fernando Zobel has issued a rare apology after three residents of the Ayala-developed One Roxas Triangle suffered electric shock while taking a swim at the luxury condo’s pool.
Luckily, none of the three, RCBC senior executive vice president Chester Luy and two children of other residents, suffered any severe or permanent injury other than what Ayala Land said was “mild grounding shock“caused by the wrong installation of the underwater swimming pool lights.
According to the grapevine, the incident happened on Dec. 26 when the third-level swimming pool was finally re-opened after months of renovation.
Of the three, Luy, being the first and longest in the water, suffered the most shock and had to be helped by the lifeguard and the security guard as he emerged disoriented from the water.
The culprit turned out to be a power transformer wrongly tapped for grounding, emitting 154 volts of electricity when checked after the pool had been cordoned off.
“I know that his must have been very frightening and distressing for all of you,” Zobel said in a Jan. 9 letter distributed to the residents. “We are holding the contractor responsible for this incident.”
According to an investigation by the Ayala Property Management Corp., the contractor, RSP Lim Construction of Karangalan Village, Pasig City, had sent a technician who, in the absence of the manual, installed the underwater power transformer through “trial and error.”
Ironically, despite having observed and verified the faulty installation, the project manager, Design Coordinates, still failed to warn the Roxas Triangle management about the danger.
“Both companies will be reassessed with respect to future projects within the ALI Group and a possibility of pre-terminating the existing contract with RSP Lim is currently under review,” Robert Rivera, Ayala Land director for residential business group, said in a report to Zobel.
Collapsed Bancom gets Mama Sita gravy
The collapsed pioneering investment bank Bancom Development Corp. has received a belated financial windfall, despite its Accra lawyers admitting that they had “totally lost contact” with their client.
Bancom won a nearly four-decade collection case against the Reyes clan of Mama Sita condiments fame over an original P2.8 million loan extended in 1979 to construct the Marbella condominium in the Reyes property along Roxas Boulevard.
With Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno as ponente, the Supreme Court denied the Reyeses’ claim that the suit should have been deemed abated by the revocation by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Bancom’s registration way back in 2003.
The mere revocation of the charter of a corporation does not result in the abatement of proceedings, the Supreme Court said, citing the Corporation Code and previous jurisprudence.
The high tribunal declared Ramon Reyes, Clara Reyes-Pastor, Marbella Manila Realty Inc., Angel Reyes Sr., Florencio Reyes Jr., Rosario Du and Olivia Arevalo jointly liable for the loan, which by now has ballooned to about P25 million, including penalties and interests.
It was not immediately clear who among the surviving Bancom incorporators and directors should receive the monetary award, an unexpected blessing much like what Bancom founder, the very much alive Sixto Roxas, had recently received.
Roxas, who will be 91 this year, was down to renting a modest townhouse outside Greenmeadows when he inherited a sizable fortune of his former wife, the late Ma. Teresa “Bing” Escoda-Roxas of the Cultural Center fame, with the unexpected passing of their childless daughter, also named Teresa.
Heard through the grapevine
Eight for-sale houses in Forbes Park have breached the P1-billion stratosphere, with the most expensive, a five-bedroom spread on a 5,000 square-meter property, listed at P1.5 billion.
The aspirational P1.5-billion house itself has a floor area of 1,950 sqm, about the size of six Pacific Plaza Towers condo units combined, and comes with a 12-car garage and a swimming pool.