WRONGED. Peregrine President Dennis Wright takes “Rodriguezmeddling” issue to Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan.
Listening are Wright’s associates Jeff Pradhan and Dakila Maniquis. Photo by Bong Lacson
ANGELES CITY – The move of Rep. Oscar S. Rodriguez (3rd District, Pampanga) to find a win-win solution to the ongoing rift between Peregrine Development International and Global Gateways Development Corp. (GGDC) was criticized by the former as “meddling” in a legal process.
During a meeting with Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan at the mayor’s office here on Wednesday, Peregrine President Dennis Wright said Rodriguez has no right to meddle in the ongoing dispute between his company and GGDC since a case has already been filed at the Singapore International Arbitration Center.
Wright said he was not invited nor informed of the meeting that Rodriguez initiated with Mabalacat City Mayor Marino “Boking” Morales, Pamintuan, representatives of the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) and Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC), and GGDC legal counsel Karen Jimeno.
“How can that be a win-win solution when we don’t even know that there was a meet ing?” Wright said. “We were never informed, much less invited.” “How is that a winwin? There is a legal process. They (GGDC) filed for arbitration.
They (GGDC) initiated an illegal termination. Let’s wait for the court to rule. Don’t interject administrative issues on a legal process that has started,” Wright said. “Our contract has binding mandatory arbitration. You cannot terminate until the arbitration is done,” he added.
“We are willing to let that (arbitration) happen but they (GGDC) are trying to stop it because they can’t afford to hear what the verdict is and they are using every means possible to delay it,” said Wright who was accompanied by Peregrine’s VP for Sales and Marketing Jeff Pradham and VP Dakila Maniquis.
“Rodriguez doesn’t even have jurisdiction over us,” Wright said. “Does (Congressman Joseller) Yeng Guiao (1st District, Pampanga) know about this?” he asked. But Pamintuan said Rodriguez, as well as himself, has “no illusion” of settling the dispute.
“Congressman Oca Rodriguez (a Liberal Party stalwart) and I don’t have any illusions. We know that we are only doing it because we feel it is for the greater interests of the community and the national interests because we will have an APEC meeting and we have only a white elephant to show.
It’s not finished,” said Pamintuan. The mayor said “Rodriguez was approached (presumably by Jimeno) and he (Rodriguez) approached me and Boking. We don’t have the feeling that we can do it (settle the dispute).
“We are both lawyers except Boking. We know there is a case pending. We just want to come up with a win-win solution because we cannot show anything there except a vacant area and a non-functioning building,” he added.
Peregrine is the “prime and exclusive contractor” of the 177-hectare Sabah Al Ahmed Global Gateways Logistics City (GGLC) project under its Engineering Procurement Construction Management (EPCM) contract with GGDC.
The ongoing dispute between Peregrine and GGDC has stalled the completion of The Medical City-Clark.
