Edsa Shangri-la Hotel ordered to pay P33M to firm founded by Bayani Fernando

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court has ordered the Edsa Shangri-la Hotel and Resort Inc. (ESHRI) to pay the P33.59 million it owes BF Corporation, a firm founded by Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando, for the construction of the five-star hotel in Mandaluyong City. The ruling was an affirmation of a decision by the Court of Appeals and the Pasig City regional trial court ordering the hotel management to pay BF Corporation some P24.78-million for unpaid billings; to return to petitioner the retention sum of P5.8-million; and to pay a total of P3 million representing attorney’s fees, moral and exemplary damages. “Accordingly, the factual findings of the trial court, as affirmed by the CA, that there was delay on the part of ESHRI, that there was no proof that BF’s work was defective, and that petitioners were guilty of malice and bad faith, ought to be affirmed,” the SC said in its 17-page decision penned by Associate Justice Presbiterio Velasco Jr. The high court junked the argument of ESHRI that the CA and the trial court should have not accepted as part of BF Corp.’s evidence photocopies of the progress billings nos. 14-19 and the complementing Project Manager’s Instructions (PMIs) and the Work Variation Orders (WVOs), being mere secondary evidence. The SC ruled that a party may present secondary evidence of the contents of a writing not only when the original is lost or destroyed, but also when it is in the custody or under the control of the adverse party. “In our view, the trial court correctly allowed the presentation of the photocopies documents in questions as secondary evidence. Any suggestion that BF failed to lay the required basis for presenting the photocopies of progress billings nos. 14 to 19 instead of their originals has to be dismissed,” the SC said. Being corporate owners, respondents are likewise liable to pay the obligations of the of the hotel firm. Named respondents in the suit were ESHRI president Rufo Calayco and other officials Rufino Samaniego, Kuok Khoon Chen and Kuok Khoon Tsen. - GMANews.TV