Philippine businessman Reghis Romero II will retain control of Harbour Centre Port Terminal Inc. (HCPTI) after the Court of Appeals (CA) issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) on a lower court’s decision turning over control of the terminal to a service provider.
In a four-page resolution dated January 5, the CA Special Second Division halted the decision of Pasig City Regional Trial Court Judge Rolando Mislang allowing service provider One Source Port Services Inc. (OSPSI) to manage Manila Harbour Centre, an integrated bulk and breakbulk terminal for domestic and foreign vessels.
“Considering that herein petitioners complied with this court’s Dec. 12, 2014 resolution and the extreme urgency of the matter involved and in order not to render nugatory and ineffectual whatever resolution/judgment may be rendered in the present petition, petitioner’s plea for a temporary restraining order is hereby granted, to be effective upon service and for a period of 60 lower court days, unless sooner lifted,” the resolution stated.
The CA Special Second Division, composed of Associate Justices Danton Bueser, Remedios Salazar-Fernando, and Pedro Corrales, directed OSPSI to cease and desist from taking over the port terminal.
It also restrained OSPSI and “all its agents and representatives from entering, and taking control, management, and possession of HCPTI.”
The CA ruling affirmed Romero’s control of HCPTI and the 10-hectare port terminal facility, but required Romero to post an P8-million bond within five days for the TRO to become effective.
The lower court on December 1 last year issued a TRO against HCPTI. On Dec. 19, an injunction was issued against HCPTI in favor of OSPSI, handing over the terminal’s control to the service provider hired by former HCPTI president and chief executive officer Michael Romero, Reghis Romero’s son.
Reghis and son Michael are locked in legal battle over HCPTI that has led to an intra-corporate dispute pending before a Manila court. This came about after the elder Romero accused former HCPTI officials of systematically stealing the corporation’s funds, following an audit to determine why the company was consistently losing money despite millions of pesos in gross revenues each month.
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