The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has greenlighted the takeover by a new company of the debt-ridden property previously leased out to the Lyceum of Subic Bay, Inc. (LSBI), saying the agreement provided for a “win-win” solution for the Subic agency to collect more than P31 million in overdue rent payments and other arrears.
SBMA Administrator & CEO Wilma T. Eisma said a resolution approved by the SBMA Board of Directors last Thursday, Aug. 10, allowed the LSBI to assign its leasehold rights to Premium Technical Training and Facilities, Inc. (PTTFI), which shall assume its financial obligations and continue with the development commitments under its lease.
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| Lyceum of Subic Bay (photo c/o lyceumsubicbay.com.ph) |
This was made possible by the withdrawal of the company from coverage of the SBMA policy granting educational institutions a 75% discount in rentals, which are supposed to be plowed back by the schools to scholarship programs and facilities improvement.
The reassignment covered the 34,196 sqm Lyceum campus at Subic’s Cubi-Triboa District, which had P23 million in rentals and utility fees arrears, as well as some P16.68 million in unpaid accounts left by its previous operator, Global Daeil Subic, Inc.
The agreement also required LSBI to pay its debts for another school campus it operates at Subic’s Central Business District (CBD).
Initially, the company paid the SBMA P31 million for its arrears on Thursday, and issued checks to cover outstanding obligations for both the Cubic and CBD campuses.
“As far as we can see, this is a win-win solution to a problem which has been hounding the SBMA since October 2015 when it pre-terminated the contract of Global Daeil over the Cubi property,” Administrator Eisma said.
“The SBMA repossessed the property in January last year and later awarded it to Lyceum, which had the best business model. But unfortunately, Lyceum was not able to operate immediately and market the business properly because of some issue with the previous occupant, so we had a problem that compounded itself over time,” Eisma added.
“But now, with this amendment to the lease and development agreement for Lyceum’s Cubi campus, we finally have a solution that is favorable to all the parties involved,” the SBMA official also said.
According to Beatrix Anagaran, manager of the SBMA General Business and Investment Department, the approved amendment to Lyceum’s lease and development agreement was “overwhelmingly beneficial to the SBMA” because it called for an increase in monthly rent from the discounted rate of P1.22 million to the appraised-value rate of P4 million.
Moreover, the agreement also provided for an increase in escalation rate from 2% per annum starting on the third year to 6% per annum starting on the second year, Anagaran pointed out.
“With Premium Technical taking over the Cubi property, the company will also pay an assignment share to the SBMA, undertake Lyceum’s development commitments, provide additional employment, and continue to honor the scholarship commitments made by Lyceum, with the number of scholars remaining the same,” Anagaran said.
She added that the new operator has also committed to put up a business process outsourcing (BPO) facility at the Cubi campus, as well as a modern training laboratory.
Premium Technical, which is 30% owned by LSBI, has also committed to honor the payment of arrears of Global Daeil with a three-year amortization schedule for the P16-million debt of the previous operator.
It has likewise retained LSBI’s committed investment of P50 million to P100 million, a committed employment of 180 workers, and a development commitment of P10 million to P20 million, and the provision of 36 scholarship grants per year. (HEE/MPD-SBMA)
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