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DAVAO CITY: The Regional Trial Court here granted the petition of
the oldest hotel in this city to suspend payments on its standing
obligations with its creditors and approved its proposed
rehabilitation plan after nine years of financial distress.
RTC Branch 10 presiding Judge Jaime Quitain, in
an eleven-page decision dated August 6, said the court acted
favorably on the petition to give petitioner Pamintuan Enterprises
Inc., owner of Apo View Hotel, and its creditors “the chance to
reconcile actual value of petitioners’ outstanding obligations”
and the right of its creditors to terminate the rehabilitation plan
if the petitioner fails to comply with the terms and conditions.
The hotel started to incur huge debts after it
was hit by the 1997 financial crisis.
Court records show that as of the filing of the
petition on June 23, 2003, Pamintuan Enterprises had standing total
liabilities of P414, 648,495 from five banks, five government
agencies and other payables.
Banco Filipino, one of its major creditors,
sought the foreclosure of the hotel for nine years in court, until
RTC Branch 10’s ruling.
Quitain said if the court ruled in favor of
Banco Filipino, it would be the only entity that would benefit.
However, if the hotel is successfully rehabilitated, it could settle
all its obligations with all its creditors and could continue
providing jobs to its employees.
“Besides, this court is not a foreclosure
court but a rehabilitation court. Its primary goal is to see to it
that all things will be considered before it denies rehabilitation
to a distressed corporation, especially in the case of corporations
like petitioner Pamintuan Enterprises whose recent performance has
shown great promise of a successful “second lease in life,”
Quitain, in his decision, said.
Under its rehabilitation plan Pamintuan
Enterprises obliged itself to perform the following:
To pay its creditors over a 15-year straight
repayment scheme subject to the gradual increase of interest rates
of 6 percent on the first five years, 7 percent on the second five
years and 8 percent on the last five years with three year moratorium
for loans with banking institutions;
To start repayment of statutory loans with the
HMDF, PhilHealth, SSS, BIR and the Davao City Treasurer’s Office
on the first year of the rehabilitation plan;
Shorter period of repayment for indebtedness
with values less than P100,000.00.
--PNA
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