Quezon City court lifts freeze order vs Megaworld

MANILA, Philippines — A Quezon City regional trial court has ordered the lifting of the Writ of Preliminary Attachment (WPA) against Megaworld Corp., which construction company Datem Inc. earlier secured.

The court also ordered Megaworld to set aside nearly P900 million as a counterbond to cover the potential obligation claimed by Datem.

“Defendant (Megaworld) posted a counterbond in the sum of  P873,324,248.89 equivalent to the amount fixed in the Order of the Court dated 9 November 2023 …” Judge Rochelle Yvette Galano of Branch 105, Quezon City Regional Trial Court, said in an order dated Nov. 24, 2023.

Datem is seeking P1 billion from Megaworld supposedly in unpaid dues for services rendered to the company.

Megaworld said it was forced to have other contractors take over the projects due to Datem’s “gross negligence and blatant disregard for project completion timelines.”

As a result of the case filed by Datem seeking to collect nearly P1 billion in unpaid dues from Megaworld, Quezon City RTC Branch 105 earlier issued the WPA effectively freezing five projects of Megaworld.

Reacting to the lifting of the freeze order on Friday, Datem said the counterbond from Megaworld is intended to act as a safety net, paying for the liability it owes to the construction firm in case Datem wins the case against Megaworld.

“With the order approving the counterbond, this will serve as security for Datem instead of the seized properties, and the court will order the lifting of the attachment instead. Also, regardless of the value of the properties, Datem should be secured for the full amount of P873,324, 248.89 in case judgment is rendered,” Datem said.

Datem also said the lifting of the WPA ruling does not diminish its case against Megaworld.

Megaworld said that after the lockdown was lifted, Datem could not catch up with the completion of works for the projects contracted to them.

“Despite many meetings with their president, Levy Espiritu, Datem continued to fail in fulfilling their obligations and worked slower compared to other similar-sized or even smaller contractors. They also consistently missed the completion dates they committed to Megaworld,” Megaworld said in a statement.