16 March 2022, from Gems:

Dear Fellow Lot Owners: 

I was supposed to report on our February accomplishments last week, but some personal concerns wrested my hand from my computer. As I mentioned in my 04 March post, following the resignation of former Secretary Roy Cimatu in the middle of February, we promptly called on his replacement, DENR Acting Secretary USec Jim Sampulna right on the first day of March. 

To our pleasant relief, USec Sampulna immediately committed to sign the lifting orders to finally authorize DENR to resume the administrative procedure of processing our Phase 678 lot applications. The problem was, there was no prepared document to sign. 

Acknowledging the number of years and people it has taken to address the issue, USec Sampulna, a career officer, promised to have it resolved before the end of this June, incidentally before he retires in the same month. You heard it right; he is also leaving office – which places us all in front of another problem – this small window to squeeze through or narrow time frame of only three months to get those deeds of sale done. For past the month of June, who knows what would happen under a new political administration? 

Concerned and determined to track the paperwork last week, we asked help from AFPOVAI GM Col Boy Bolo who messaged DILG Secretary Ed Ano to gently remind USec Sampulna, the Acting Secretary being their common friend. Secretary Ano replied that per his own follow-up, Acting Secretary Sampulna was indeed amenable to lifting the suspension and advised that we return to see the DENR Chief as soon as possible. Well, the resolution could not have come fast enough. 

Monday morning yesterday, 14 March, USec Sampulna promptly called for a meeting at eleven o’clock in his office at Quezon City. Trapped by time, traffic and distance coming from Lipa, I was unable to make it. Only AFPOVAI President BGen Art Abadilla, Commodore Tony Suratos, GM Col Boy Bolo, Ph 678 Pres Capt Mateo and Gigi Castro, scrambling from different directions, were able to attend. 

The conference room at the DENR Central Office, according to Pres Art Abadilla, was packed with key staff from the Office of the Secretary and personnel from LMB and the NCR Office. USec Sampulna amiably but immediately set the tone by informing the AFPOVAI side that he was ready to sign the lifting orders, but with one modification: the amount to be charged for the lots of those who have not made any payments yet shall be P600 per square meter, instead of the original price of P15 per square meter. When Commodore Suratos tried to explain the rationale for the original price – previous transactions for which got suspended by the Defensor memo at no fault of the lot applicants since 15 April 2005 – USec Sampulna cut him short and stated that the P600 price was the final recommendation of LMB. 

But hold on. This new price shall only apply to those who have not paid at all, meaning mostly allocatees. Those who have made partial payments shall pay the original P15 per square meter lot price. In short, if you are an allocatee, you will need to pay P240,000 for your 400 square-meter lot. But if you are an awardee, but has so far only paid half of the amount for your 400-square-meter lot, then you will only need to pay P3,000. That’s great news for all the awardees, but an unexpected twist for all allocatees. 

USec Sampulna explained that the payment could be done in one transaction or in 10 installments in 10 years, after which corresponding penalties would be imposed. But the deeds of sale would only be processed and released after completion of full or final payment. We had better prepare to pay this March and April. 

Implying that it had undergone proper study by the LMB, USec Sampulna further averred that the amount was as far as they could go with the new valuation of the Ph 678 lots for those who have not made any payments yet. Otherwise, the issue would be passed on to the next Secretary. Any Phase 678 member who would want to still have it retained at the original price may elevate the matter to the President of the Philippines, but that would mean his lot application being shunted aside in the meantime. 

USec Sampulna admitted that he had made such decision in order to finally settle the issue during his time. “Iyan lang ang maitutulong ko sa inyo,” he said. But this time, seeing the price incongruity for an urban lot in Metro Manila, he approved the cost value of P600 per square meter, instead of the P15 per square meter, based on the final recommendation of the Land Management Bureau. In his most polite way, he reportedly said: “Take it or leave it.” 

As of this writing this morning, a new draft of the lifting orders are being prepared. According to USec Rodolfo Garcia, the orders would be signed by today or tomorrow.

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Basically, what happened was a decision announcement meeting, Sir Lito. Without any IRR to PD 461, LMB can exercise all options in the disposal of lands. It is vested with such authority. And this time, the Acting Secretary finally decided to decide with finality and settle the issue. I would like to believe this was a compromise decision, but sadly still to the disadvantage of the allocatees who number over 100 – that is, in comparison with the rest of Ph 678 lot applicants. DENR already did their CSW, as we did ours. But a part of the WCS (worst case scenario) still turned up. Sir Vic is right. Nothing will move if the P15 per square meter were insisted upon. On the contrary, things could reverse. We don’t want to go back to square one.

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Thank you, sir. Our worst case scenario really is going back to square one. P600 psm to me is already reasonable given the admin costs that need to be covered and possible case for underpricing – although I still feel bad being an allocatee myself. But right now, it is not actually disadvantageous on our part in view of the fair market value of land in urban Taguig area. With the passage of time, for all intents and purposes, the P600 psm price would somehow constitute a new contract to sell due to force majeure. We acknowledge it is unfortunate. But given the fact that no payment has been made by any allocatee yet, we can perhaps take the P600 today as the value of the P15 before. Or we can simply accept the DENR’s decision for what it is. Over and beyond that, this is what must be taken in the right frame. Once napirmahan yung lifting orders, that’s it. It’s a win for all of us. It will all be just a matter of procedures after that. That’s why we’re already preparing for an all-in-one caravan (that would allow face-to-face interviews, bidding, payment and simul processing of docs) at AFPOVAI in the next two weeks. I’m also planning to call for a general assembly meeting by zoom as early as next week to inform everyone, clear up the air and get your feedback, sirs.