My sister and I never engaged in sibling rivalry. Our parents weren't that crazy about either one of us.
— American humorist Erma Bombeck

MAYPAJO, Caloocan City — While it has been advised that Makati City mayor Maria Lourdes Nancy Binay-Angeles should avoid the Makati Subway project's contractor as partner, the controversy over alleged 'midnight deal' in the city government's settlement with Philippine InfraDev Holdings (formerly IRC Properties) has triggered a sibling rivalry that could lead to a showdown between the newly elected mayor and her younger sister—the former mayor
Mar-len Abigail 'Abby' Binay-Campos.
But first of all, why should Mayor Nancy avoid InfraDev?
One reason would be because of the company's lack of industry leadership legacy and moreover, it displayed poor performance in the subway project; thus, it is to the benefit of the present dispensation in the city of Makati to also avoid the company as its strategic technical partner
However, Makati's newly installed local government chief executive is not completely discarding the stalled subway project. In fact, she appears to favor seeking more options not only from the city government’s private contractor and partner but from other credible strategic technical partners to save the subway plan.
We have to consider that the project remains relevant to the transportation system of Makati.
In the meantime, the head of the transition team, lawyer Christian Robert Lim, confirmed that their side has complied with the order of the Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC) to submit last July 11 the new city government’s position on the agreement drawn by the previous administration and InfraDev. (READ: Makati City to withdraw from ₱9-billion subway settlement agreement)
InfraDev filed last April an arbitration case in SIAC to withdraw from the project and initially sought around US$1.7 billion in claims. It argued that it was “no longer economically and operationally feasible” largely as a result of the Supreme Court’s (SC) ruling that redrew the territories of the cities of Makati and Taguig, giving several barangays of Makati to Taguig.
Taken away from Makati and made part of Taguig were the “EMBO” barangays, namely: Cembo, South Cembo, Comembo, East Rembo, West Rembo, Pembo, Rizal, and Pitogo, along with Post Proper Northside and Post Proper Southside of Makati.
InfraDev claimed that this radically changed the operational dynamics of the plan together with its financial profile. A depot and four subway stations of the project suddenly landed within the territorial jurisdiction of Taguig.
On June 23, the outgoing city government under then-mayor Abby Binay-Campos and InfraDev signed a settlement agreement to pay the later ₱8.9 billion, net of taxes. The settlement was authorized by the Sangguniang Panlungsod. The agreement was also forwarded on the same day to SIAC for consideration with a request for the issuance of the Consent Award (an arbitral award that records the terms of a settlement agreement reached by the parties to a dispute, formalizing their agreement as a binding and enforceable decision as if it was made by the tribunal after a full hearing).
Considering that the agreement was concluded just seven days before her assumption to office, Mayor Nancy flagged the agreement as a “midnight settlement,” aside from the fact that the city government’s financial health may be jeopardized with the size of what it will pay to InfraDev in 90 days.
Under these circumstances, the period of payment is also considered too short for the city government that it is actually facing the prospects of having to pay more due to the interest charges appended to the agreement, according to Lim.

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