Despite SC order, Lucy Gomez is still ahead!

It's just too bad that Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez was suddenly yanked out as the Representative of Leyte's 4th District due to a legal technicality wherein the Supreme Court nullified the ruling of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) that held that she could be substituted for her husband, actor Richard Gomez. I concur with the ruling because legal cases must always go down to the root cause of the problem. If Richard was a non-candidate, therefore he cannot be substituted even by his wife.

I'm sure that the SC decision is devastating on the part of Rep. Lucy Gomez, but then, she can always look forward to the positive side of this incident, which can be interpreted as her not having a first term at all. While we in Cebu are a bit faraway from Ormoc, my wife Jessica has relatives living there who gives us reports about what Rep. Lucy Gomez has been doing for her constituents in Ormoc and apparently, she is highly respected and loved by Ormocanons. That means, she is the odds-on favorite candidate to win in the May 2013 elections. Call it a minor setback if you wish.

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The incident that happened in Alta Vista Gold & Country Club (AVGCC) last Monday, where its 14th annual stockholders meeting was marred by the rift between the Aznar Brothers Realty Corp. and Sta. Lucia Realty, their partner in the land development up in Pardo Hills is something of great interest, not just for the members of Alta Vista or the homeowners of the Alta Vista land development but also for the tourism development of Cebu City. Fourteen years ago, that piece of land was practically worthless because there was nothing of value in that property except its great view of the City.

With the rapid development of the South Road Properties (SRP), where land developers like SM is now constructing its second shopping mall in Cebu City, having a golf course so near the SRP is without a doubt a huge advantage to the total development in the south side of Cebu City.

But like what I wrote last Tuesday, something happened on my way to Alta Vista and in that column we quoted our good friend, George Aznar, who is the Vice-President of the Aznar Brothers Realty Corp. Last Tuesday, I got a call from a Sta. Lucia executive from Manila (he asked not to be named) asking me for a meeting with him and that's exactly what we did… hear the side of Sta. Lucia Realty Corp.

First off, I asked the Sta. Lucia executive whether he would give me a copy of their joint venture or development agreement with the Aznar Brothers Realty and Aznar Enterprises. Anticipating that I would be asking for this, he produced a copy for me. Call it a good beginning that St. Lucia wasn't hiding this document from me or the members of Alta Vista. I also called up Alta Vista Manager Nimrod Quiñones whether the Alta Vista Board went into the motions of opening up the annual meeting despite the delays and Nimrod confirmed this by phone… but there was no quorum anymore.

As for the Aznar road lot which George Aznar said they paid P3 million to the City of Cebu, the Sta. Lucia exec told me that this should be paid jointly 60% Sta. Lucia and 40% Aznar Brothers. So perhaps it is just a matter of sitting down and ironing out things, hopefully without their lawyers. I'm saying this because more often than not, lawyers tend to prolong legal problems for obvious reasons.

As for the issue of the batching plant and the caddy shed, again the Sta. Lucia exec told me that this was part and parcel of the joint development agreement. Why the Aznars filed a case? I really don't know. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the person in the Aznar family who negotiated with Sta. Lucia, my late friend, Engr. Matthias “Bombi” Aznar, III already passed away and it is common knowledge that the Aznar Brothers don't really observe what we call “brotherly love.” I even learned that there is also infighting amongst the siblings within the family of Bombi Aznar. It's just so sad.

For the sake of the Aznar family, how I wish they would stop their infighting and keep the peace as this has now affected the golfing members of Alta Vista. Let me point out that the character of the deal between Sta. Lucia and the Aznar Brothers changed when they started selling golf shares to the public 14 years ago. Just like the Cebu Country Club, Inc. there are only 100 members who can be voted upon or elected into the board.

I gathered that the deal concocted during Bombi's time was 40% for Sta. Lucia, 40% for Aznar Brothers and 20% to the general membership. But the latest count is that St. Lucia has 36 bonafide members in good standing, 20 still from the Alta Vista membership and only 12 bonafide paying members from the Aznar brothers. That means the Aznar Bros must present from their end, only bonafide members who can vote and be voted upon.

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