BY MIKE ORTEGA LIGALIG

Following Bohol Sunday Post's banner headline highlighting of City Hall's no-nonsense plan of padlocking City Square if the latter still refuses to pay more than P10 million worth of back taxes, TBC Realty Development Corporation, managing partner of Tagbilaran City Square, was finally seen on its knees pleading for mercy at the Office of the City Mayor. Ko Beng Sum, TBC Realty investor, has sought clemency from City Mayor John Geesnell “Baba” Yap and pleaded with the mayor not to padlock City Square, the corporation's single money-making venture. Yap, through City Administrator Edi Borja, had earlier issued a stern warning to City Square that if it continues to avoid paying more than P10 million worth of back taxes (lessor's fee), the city officialdom would be left with only one option: close City Square once and for all.

A day before City Hall issued an ultimatum, City Square's mall manager, Alfred Delmo, quit his job and fled Tagbilaran City. City Hall's plan of shutting down City Square has saddened mall tenants, who have been calling for transparency, honesty and accountability in the management style of TBC Realty. According to Borja, Sum has promised to Yap that TBC Realty would settle its huge tax obligation with City Hall within one year. The tax payment will be completed through installment basis, Borja said. Since 2009 when City Square started its operations, TBC Realty has amassed more than P125 million revenues from mall tenants, but the corporation has been delinquent in paying tax to the government. While TBC Realty had acquired City Square contract to the tune of P25/meter, the corporation is renting out its space by as much as P600 per meter.

The sweet deal forged by previous mayor Dan Lim and TBC Realty has been a subject of a court battle, with former Gov. Victor Dela Serna leading a crusade, calling for the cancellation of the contract the city had struck with TBC Realty. The contract has been criticized as “disadvantageous” to the taxpayers and to the government. Dela Serna had accused ex-mayor Lim of having personally benefitted from the City Square contract, alleging that Lim was pocketing P1 million a month from City Square investors. Lim had denied the allegation. Borja told the Post that City Hall is reconsidering its plan of shutting down City Square after Sum has promised to pay tax before the end of 2014. “Let's see if the corporation is sincere with its intention to pay taxes to the city government,” Borja said. Asked whether Sum's intention to pay its tax debts was put into a written legal document, Borja said City Hall's agreement with Sum is purely based on spoken words.

“It was all pure talk,” Borja said of Sum's pledge to pay back taxes, “however, it will be good if the promise to pay would be put into a written legal document.” The news that City Square was facing closure sent shockwaves to mall tenants, who until now have not been granted with Mayor's Business Permit. The mayor's permit cannot be issued to City Square tenants until TBC Realty settles its tax obligations with City Hall. Reacting on the plan of City Hall to padlock City Square, Dela Serna has proposed a more drastic option of ending City Square's woes. Saying that TBC Realty had allegedly violated several terms in the contract, Dela Serna has urged Mayor Yap to cancel the joint-venture contract the city government had entered into with TBC Realty. Dela Serna said that with the cancellation, it would allow City Hall to offer City Square to other business groups who may be interested to manage the former Agora Market, which was left to rot by the administration of former mayor Joe Torralba.