What Happened to That 1996 Lease Agreement?

Wazzup Pilipinas!

There was a 1996 lease agreement that was signed which was signed by Camp John Hay Development Corporation and Bases Conversion and Development Authority where Bob Sobrepena was supposed to pay an annual rent of P425 million or 5% of the gross sales whichever of the two is higher. I don’t know what they were thinking when they signed that because it is clearly a one sided deal in favor of the BCDA. It is no surprise how CJHDevCo struggled in their first 5 years since this was supposed to last for the first 5 years of the contract.

The lease payment of CJHDevCo should belong to the city of Baguio and not BCDA. The mayor himself has expressed concern that this has gone on too far. He is calling for BCDA to participate in the proceedings in order to find out who really is at fault. It is obvious BCDA CEO Arnel Casanova has gone overboard with all of his accusations towards Bobby. One way or the other, the two parties are going to resolve this matter. However, Casanova won’t stop pinning accusations on Sobrepena like there is some kind of personal grudge between them.

The 1996 lease agreement was restructured in 2000 due to the fact that the operations of Camp John Hay were adversely affected resulting to a loss of P1.445 billion. I really felt sorry for Bobby because of that. It is not easy to run a business and he had to take a major step back down because of what he lost there. President Aquino’s PPP program would have benefitted both parties if they agree to resolve the case. However, that is not going to happen anytime soon and we have Arnel Casanova to thank for that. He should really think more about the country than himself.