CA rules case against Stradcom lacks merit

The Court of Appeals has upheld an Urdaneta City court decision to dismiss a case filed by Stradcom International Holdings Inc. against Stradcom Corp.

 

The appeals court's Twelfth Division junked for "lack of merit" Stradcom International’s petition for review to reverse an Urdaneta City court ruling dismissing the case filed by its supposed corporate secretary Rodolfo Millare, according to the ruling penned by Associate Justice Vincent Veloso.

 

Urdaneta City Judge Gonzalo Marata was right when he dismissed Millare's complaint for being a "nuisance or a harassment suit," the CA said. 

 

Under a build-own-operate agreement with the Philippine government, Stradcom Corp. provides the Land Transportation Office (LTO) with information technology services at no cost to the government.

 

Stradcom Corp. is a wholly owned unit of Stradcom International, a holding company indirectly owned by principals Strategic Alliance Development Corporation and Comfac Corporation through United Information Technologies Inc., ePLDT Inc., and International Finance Corporation.

 

Earlier, LTO withheld P1.2 billion in service fees accruing to Stradcom. The money was placed in an escrow account until the firm's owners are determined.

 

On December 9, 2010, around 40 armed men took over Stradcom Corp.’s main headquarters in Quezon City on orders from businessmen Bonifacio Sumbilla and Aderito Yujuico.

 

It led to a six-hour standoff that paralyzed LTO operations.

 

The Sumbilla group claimed at the time he was the new representative of the company’s new controlling investors.

 

In its ruling, the CA said noted that Millare was neither the corporate secretary nor a stockholder of SIHI, and thus had no "cause of action" against the Stradcom.

 

The CA said Millare failed to convince the court "on the sufficiency of the extent of his interest as an initiating stockholder."

 

In 2011, the Supreme Court remanded to a Quezon City court a separate intracorporate dispute involving Stradcom Corp. The high court said it would not tackle the case until the firm's real owners are determined.

 

In its ruling, the CA said Millare's case against Stradcom was a "splitting cause of action" because of the separate case the SC remanded to the Quezon City court.

 

Concurring with Veloso were Associate Justices Jane Aurora Lantion and Eduardo Peralta Jr. — VS, GMA News