Picar defending itself against invasion of the Century?
"...use of force, coercion and intimidation by hundreds of Century Properties security and construction workers..."
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Tension mounts between Makati condo builders
Guards fire shots, workers scuffle over control of ‘common road’
By Jaymee T. Gamil
Philippine Daily Inquirer
WORKSITE STANDOFF Shotguns rather than shovels reportedly went to work Friday as tensions flared between security guards and laborers of Century City and Picar Development, builders of two neighboring condominiums on Kalayaan Avenue, Makati City. NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
Tensions rose Friday between the workers and security guards of two companies currently building condominium projects next to each other on Kalayaan Avenue, Makati City.
Guns were reportedly drawn and shots fired in a dispute over who should control the “common road” between the Century City project of Century City Development Corp. and the rising Picar Place of Picar Development Inc. Both properties are in Barangay Poblacion.
In a report to the Makati police, Century City engineers and security guards claimed that security guards from Picar pointed their shotguns at them and pulled the trigger on two separate occasions on Friday.
Engineer Jeff Mark Hidalgo reported that around 4:15 p.m., “the Picar guards started to cause trouble because they wanted to stop Century City’s installation of lamp posts on the common road area.”
A jostling match broke out between the workers of the two companies, some of them ending up bruised, and a Picar security guard later pointed his shotgun at the opposing group, threatening to shoot, the report added.
According to Hidalgo, the Picar guard was “concealed” by his colleagues when a safety officer from Century tried to get his name. It was at this point that the Picar guards started putting put up a barricade on the road, he recalled.
2nd incident
Tensions again escalated around 8:15 p.m., when Picar guards reportedly from Underwatch security agency put a boom barrier on the road “to prevent the workers of Century properties from entering the premises,” according to another report to the police, this time from Century guard Reynaldo Cabrera of Escabon security agency.
Cabrera said the Picar guards “fired their shotguns several times,” then left the area when Cabrera’s team called the police.
In a phone interview, Picar spokesperson and lawyer Cherry Julian said she heard gunshots herself when she was on the site Friday night, but denied that it was the Picar guards who fired. “We don’t know who fired,” she said. “But as far as I know, it’s not our guards. We are avoiding violence and bloodshed.”
She said she was aware of the tense situation that started earlier that day, when Picar personnel were “surprised” by the new construction on the common road, referring to the lamp posts.
“We are the coowners of that road. According to the law, all alterations must have the concurrence of both parties. We were only defending our property rights. We tried to resist because we have rights and we have to protect our interests,” the lawyer said.
Julian recalled that Century earlier installed traffic lights and signs on the road on Dec. 9. “We were outnumbered. We had only seven guards. They had 60 to 100 armed guards just to put up the installations. We don’t know why,” the lawyer said.
Open to negotiations
“We are open to negotiations, but we don’t know why they implement actions without our approval,” she said, adding that the company was studying the legal actions it could take since “we are the aggrieved party here.”
On Saturday, Makati City Hall spokesperson Joey Salgado disclosed that a representative from Century had reported the incident to Mayor Jejomar Binay Jr. through a text message, complaining that Picar blocked the road “even if Century is the 72-percent owner.”
The representative, whom Salgado did not name, reiterated that Picar guards fired at Century guards.
But the representative also assured the city government Century officials were trying to settle the matter “amicably” with Picar, he added.
Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/550459/tension-mounts-between-makati-condo-builders#ixzz2oyB8WOCk
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HLURB’s intervention sought in Makati condo builders’ row
By Maricar B. Brizuela
Philippine Daily Inquirer
One of the two condominium developers whose security guards and workers figured in a tense standoff Friday over the control of a road has revealed plans to take the dispute before the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB).
In an e-mail to the Inquirer, Century Properties Group Inc. spokesperson Terrie Fucanan-Yu said the company has prepared a letter to HLURB Commissioner Antonio Bernardo to “request (the board’s) intervention as a third-party government agency to give due recourse to a situation that it is facing with Picar Development Inc.”
Century and Picar are currently building condos next to each other on Kalayaan Avenue, Makati City. Their workers figured in a scuffle, and Century claimed that Picar guards fired their shotguns on two occasions Friday to stop Century’s installation of lampposts on a “common road” separating the two projects.
Century officials reported the incidents to the Makati police, but Picar’s spokesperson Cherry Julian disputed the accounts concerning the gunshots. Julian, however, explained that as “co-owners” of the road “we tried to resist because we had to protect our interests.”
“As Century does not want the situation to escalate into possible violence with our people on-site, we are seeking help from the HLURB. We hope they will assist in resolving the matter,” Yu said in Sunday’s statement.
Yu said the disagreement with Picar was mainly about the completion of roadworks which, she said, “form part of the deliverables of the Century City project in Makati.”
“One of the works we implemented which met resistance from Picar security was the installation of a traffic light system on Kalayaan Avenue that Century is donating to Makati City,” she said, adding that the system was put up on a public pedestrian lane, not a Century or a Picar property.
Yu also cited other works being done on a road from General Luna Street to Kalayaan Avenue, which include the setup of streetlights, landscaping, asphalt-laying and marking of pedestrian lanes.
She alleged that Picar had refused to allow these additional works and tried to stop Century workers using its security force. “On Friday, Picar installed boom barriers on a portion of the road near Kalayaan Avenue. On Friday evening and the next day, it positioned in the same area a total of three buses near Kalayaan Avenue. On Sunday, it added two vehicles and a bus, blocking access from Kalayaan Avenue.” The Century spokesperson also said Picar agreed in October to let Century do those improvements but had since been delaying their implementation.
Reached for comment, Julian countered that “you cannot call that an agreement since our communication was only through letters expressing intent to improve that road but there was no final decision yet.”
The supposed agreement cited by Century was not legally binding since both camps had not even discussed the details of the plan, she said. “We were just on the documentation phase so we were shocked when they already had contracts which did not involve Picar as a signatory.”
“We stopped negotiations because we asked them to amend the contracts and include Picar as a signatory. But instead of fixing the documents, they decided to implement the improvement works on the common road,” she said.
As to Friday’s tensions, “I am repeating that those allegations are false,” Julian said. “The gunshots did not come from our end.”
Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/550969/hlurbs-intervention-sought-in-makati-condo-builders-row#ixzz2oyAeHna9
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COCKTALES | Feuding Ambassadors Aguiluz, Antonio turn Kalayaan Avenue into Makati's 38th Parallel
It looks like Ambassadors Amable Aguiluz V and Jose E.B. Antonio could both use a refresher course on conflict resolution, especially in this season of merry.
In the run-up to Christmas, armed security guards in the employ of the two gentlemen have turned a common road dividing their respective condominium projects along Kalayaan Road into Makati's version of Korea's 38th Parallel.
Two confrontations had already resulted in scuffles and some warning gunfire between their construction crews and security guards, the latest flashpoint since the two partners in the privatization of the former International School compound have gone their separate and, as it turned out, bitter ways.
After the breakup, Amable's Picar Development had gotten the western portion of the property, where Buddha Bar is, while Antonio's Century Properties obtained the larger chunk, 3.4 hectares out of the 4.8-hectare pie, closer to Makati Avenue's nightlife district.
Amable was supposed to build, at 70 floors, the country's tallest residential tower but somehow Antonio had managed to increase his original 65-story Gramercy Residences to 73 stories, thus snatching the big-swinging-dick title from his ex-partner.
A furious Amable then lodged a complaint with City Hall and launched a negative media campaign about the "illegal" additional floors of his neighbor, to no avail.
Tomorrow, Century Properties is scheduled to hold a private party at the country's highest bar-restaurant, 71 Gram (so called because it is on the 71st floor of the Gramercy condo), and that was why the construction crew had to rush work and light up the common service road during the weekend.
But apparently Aguiluz had other plans, or felt that Antonio was pulling a fast one on him again.
After the near-gunfight, four buses and two trucks, apparently from the Aguiluz camp, were driven up and left on the common road by the Kalayaan Avenue entrance, to block passage into the complex, in addition to the boom barriers also installed by the Aguiluz boys.
The road blockages, increased by half a dozen assorted vehicles, were still in place at the time of this writing.
The common road-turned-into-truck storage also leads to the neighboring A-Venue complex and then onto Makati Avenue and vice versa. Fortunately, there is also another road by the Makati Avenue-side that is controlled by Antonio that leads into his Century Properties complex.
According to the grapevine, Aguiluz and Antonio were both coincidentally and conveniently out of the country for the holidays while their boys were roughing it out on the ground on behalf of their principals.
A question sent to the Aguiluz and Antonio camps, what proposal/solution is on the table that would resolve the impasse, was unanswered as of column deadline.
http://www.interaksyon.com/business/77541/cocktales--feuding-ambassadors-aguiluz-antonio-turn-kalayaan-avenue-into-makatis-38th-parallel
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COCKTALES
By: Victor C. Agustin
December 30, 2013 6:23 AM
Aguiluz says road talks ongoing but...
The camp of Ambassador to the Middle East Amable Aguiluz V said settlement talks are underway between his lawyers and those of his fellow ambassador and ex-partner, Jose E.B. Antonio, over the continuing standoff on a common road dividing their condo projects along Makati's Kalayaan Avenue.
"Global settlement discussion initiated by (Aguiluz's) Picar Development Inc. months ago is now again underway with Century Properties through their lawyers," Aguiluz lawyer Cherry Julian said in a statement sent over the weekend.
She admitted though that the last discussion was held on December 24, nearly a week ago.
"Picar wants a global settlement of its disputes with Century Properties Inc., where the rights of each co-owner of the road they share will be respected and the pending cases will be dismissed or withdrawn by both sides," the statement said.
"The resumption of negotiations followed the unilateral actions taken by Century Properties which violate their existing agreement on how to use and develop their common road," the statement said.
"These are, among other things: 1) Signing with the city for installation and donation of traffic lights without the knowledge of Picar; 2) Construction of islands that virtually isolated Picar; 3) Contracting out landscaping without Picar's agreement."
The statement then blamed Century Properties for triggering the scuffles and the warning gunshots while Picar construction crew and security personnel blocked and parked trucks and buses to prevent the other side from pursuing development works on the common road.
"Worse was the use of force, coercion and intimidation by hundreds of Century Properties security and construction workers last December 20 to forcibly install lamp posts and street lights," the statement said. "This resulted in physical harm upon Picar personnel who tried to prevent them."
Previous to that, "on December 9, Century, using police and barangay officials, also forcibly installed traffic lights on the common road," the Picar statement said.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/77701/cocktales--pancake-house-owner-whips-up-a-p25-b-fund-to-invest-in-local-firms
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