Megaworld to file multibillion suit vs Datem

WILLIAM B. DEPASUPIL

2023-11-21T08:00:00.0000000Z

The Manila Times

https://digitaledition.manilatimes.net/article/281556590564574

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PROPERTY giant Megaworld Corp. will file a multibillion-peso civil and criminal case against construction firm Datem Inc. for gross negligence and abandonment of commitment that resulted in huge losses to the property company. Kevin Tan, chief executive officer of Alliance Global Group, the parent company of Megaworld, said that due to Datem’s negligence and failure to complete their obligations on time, Megaworld was forced to have other contractors finish their projects. “We are filing cases against them, and our internal and external legal teams are now on top of it. They have to be accountable for their gross negligence to project timelines as well as their poor on-ground support and below standard workmanship, which we have had to augment with more reputable, professional and better quality contractors,” Tan added. “The additional cost [in getting new contractors] for Datem’s delays were all absorbed by Megaword,” he added. One of the projects that Datem failed to finish on time is located in Pasig City. It was only able to complete five levels of the 28-story project in more than three years or from October 2019 to August 2022. As a result, Megaworld had to reassign the project to EEI Corp. in October 2022. EEI finished the project in one year. Tan said Datem’s below par performance was also the subject of complaints of other property development firms. “Datem is deceiving the public in hiding the truth for their very poor performance. In fact, they have been previously blacklisted, not just with Megaworld but also our other Group of Companies,” Tan further said. Megaworld said that Datem failed to catch up with the completion of the projects contracted to them and despite repeated pleas of Megaworld. “Datem continued to fail in fulfilling their obligations and worked slower compared to other similar-sized or even smaller contractors. They also consistently missed the completion dates they committed to Megaworld,” it added. Despite Datem’s failure to deliver the projects, it demanded huge amounts of claims and adjustments, which Megaworld finds unreasonable. “Megaworld never committed fraud in its dealings with Datem. Perhaps, what is considered fraudulent is demanding payments for the projects they failed to deliver excellently and on time,” the firm pointed out. “To set the record straight, Megaworld has not evaded any substantial claim for payments from Datem, even if they failed to deliver on their commitments,” it said. “In fact, Megaworld incurred additional costs because of their delays.” “Clearly, this is part of Datem’s malicious tactics to garner public sympathy and challenge the integrity and good corporate citizenship of Megaworld,” the company said. It noted that Datem’s move to have Megaworld’s assets frozen is ridiculous and absurd considering the fact that the P873 million they are claiming “is just a meager 0.2 percent of the total assets of Megaword.”

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