The owner of Sugarland Hotel yesterday said he is prepared to talk to Gov. Joseph Marañon about the recent court order for the Bacolod, Negros Occidental and Department of Transportation and Communication officials to pay his hotel P21.6 million plus interest.

Regional Trial Court Judge Ramon Delariarte said the order was issued for failure of the respondents to comply with a Memorandum of Understanding reached before the demolition of the hotel's fourth floor 11 years ago for allegedly being an obstruction to aerial navigation.

Maybe the governor and I can talk over a cup of coffee and our lawyers can sit down and discuss proposals for a settlement, Sugarland Hotel owner Felix Yusay said. Gov. Joseph Marañon said the provincial government is only prepared to pay Sugarland Hotel P3.6 million provided it is reimbursed by the DOTC as agreed on.

The governor said through dialog the matter can be settled amicably to the satisfaction of everyone, including the city of Bacolod.

"If I am invited, I am willing to sit down (with Yusay)," Marañon said.

My condition is that we will require the DOTC to come up with the amounts it had agreed to release, he said.

In the past, the Commission on Audit was not amendable to paying Sugarland Hotel, but since there is a court order we will go back to COA to discuss the matter if the parties agree to a settlement, he said.

The hotel fourth floor's removal stemmed from the order of Capt. Panfilo Villaruel Jr., then chief of the Air Transportation Office, on May 13, 1994 for the closure of the Bacolod airport.

He decreed that the airport could not resume operations until the fourth floor of Sugarland Hotel was removed as it posed an obstruction to aerial navigation.

The hotel filed a complaint against the DOTC represented by Jesus Garcia, the ATO headed by Villaruel, Negros Occidental represented by then Gov. Rafael Coscolluela, Bacolod City represented by then mayor Alfredo Montelibano Jr., the City Sangguniang Panlungsod represented by then Vice Mayor Evelio Leonardia and the City Engineer of Bacolod City for failing to comply with the MOU.

Delariarte ordered the Bacolod and Negros Occidental governments to pay Sugarland Hotel P4 million and P3.6 million plus interest of 12 percent per annum computed from May 25, 1994, respectively, representing the value of the demolished fourth floor. The defendants were also jointly ordered to pay Sugarland Hotel P12 million by way of unearned profits for the period that it stopped operations because of the demolition, as well as P1 million in moral damages, P1 million as exemplary damages, P600,000 in attorney's fees and the cost of the suit.

The judge also ordered the DOTC and ATO to reimburse the Bacolod and Negros Occidental governments P4 million and P3.6 million, respectively, for their payments to Sugarland Hotel.*CPG

back to top