Transco reiterates refusal to settle dispute with property firm

The National Transmission Corp. (TransCo) reiterated its refusal to settle a right-of-way dispute on expropriated land previously owned by a real-estate developer.

Undertaking a settlement with Stateland Inc. (formerly American Realty Corp.) “will set a precedent for future claims based on current values and not on values when the properties were taken," said Energy Secretary Angelo T. Reyes, who also sits at the TransCo board.

A September 2008 court decision has reportedly compelled Transco – the state-led entity that runs the country’s power grid – to pay P190, 991,040.00 to Stateland Inc. after the government expropriated 8,865 square meters of its 41,884 square meter property.

The decision will be elevated to the Court of Appeals (CA) through the Office of the Solicitor General, if need be, Reyes said.

The said property was taken over by the government in 1993 when the National Power Corp. (Napocor) built the Kalayaan-San Jose 500k EHV Transmission Line in Tanay, Rizal.

In 1993, the same property was classified as agricultural land with a Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) valuation of P300 per square meter.

A year later, its cost per square meter rose to P390. In 2000, the BIR zonal valuation was P480 per square meter.

But in July 2008, when the provisional deposit worth P16.463 million was released, a court wanted the TransCo to pay P2,400 for every square meter.

TransCo then formulated a fair market value for the expropriated property with a fair market value of P1,680/sqm, an amount derived from an average of three values: P480/sqm, P1,900/sqm (Napocor), and P2,446/sqm (private appraiser valuation in 2007).

The same court decision dated September 2008 also required TransCo to pay a 12 percent interest, starting 1993.

Additionally, consequential damages for the remaining 33, 219 square meters and six percent interest from 1993 will also be paid out by TransCo.

The whole process of expropriation was undertaken in 1993 when state-led Napocor’s mandate involved producing electricity, managing the country’s grid, among others.

But the 2001 Electricity Power Industry Reform Act divided the power industry into three sectors – generation, distribution, and transmission.

The law also created the National Transmission Corp. (TransCo) which runs the Philippines’ power grid.

This case remained in the hands of the government even after TransCo was privatized last year.

GMANews.TV

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