LUDO COAL PLANT/APRIL 21, 2016:
An aerial shot of LUDO Corporation in Barangay Sawang Calero, where a proposed Coal Powered Plant will be place.(CDN FILE PHOTO)
Stockholders of the Ludo and Luym Corporation (LLC) have asked the director of the Environment Management Bureau in Central Visayas to deny permit issuance on the planned operation of coal-fired power plant on their property located in Barangay Sawang Calero, Cebu City.
Kelly Luym, president of Ludo and Luym Foundation, Inc.; Paterno Luym Jr. and the Ludo and Luym Foundation, Inc. said that they did not authorize the use of the corporation’s lot for the planned operation of a 300-megawatt power plant worth around P20 billion in the area.
Their Sawang Calero lot, they said, “should be devoted only to the pursuit of LLC’s legitimate business.”
Speaking through their legal counsel Negley Tabucanon – Villanueva, Kely and Paterno also volunteered to appear in a conference with EMB-7 director William Cuñado “and to furnish documents, if needed, to substantiate the foregoing allegations.”
“We thank you in anticipation of your favorable and prompt action,” said the two-page letter signed by Kelly Luym, president of Ludo and Luym Foundation, Inc. and Paterno Luym Jr.
Copies of their letter dated March 17, 2017 were also furnished to Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, Vice Mayor Edgar Labella and city council members.
Kelly and Paterno said in their letter that they also recognize that “a shelved power plant (in Sawang Calero) will certainly expose the residents surrounding the plant to toxic and hazardous materials given the nature of its operations.”
They added that there is now a “derivative” suit pending before the Cebu City Regional Trial Court Branch 11 which Ludo and Luym Corporation filed against Douglas Luym, et al, “to protect the interest of LLC against some of its stockholders who illegally increase the corporation’s authorized capital stock.”
They attached a copy of said case on their letter to Cuñado.
Their letter said that since 2001, LLC has not called for a stockholders’ meeting “thus the proposed power plant could not have been validly approved by LLC.”
“Further, the Brngy. Sawang Calero properties are subject of a Trust Indenture Agreement which was executed in favor of the Bank of the Philippine Islands and several other banks to secure a syndicated loan of LLC that has ballooned to billions of pesos. This encumbrance is annotated on the certificates of title over the Brngy. Sawang Calero properties.” the letter added.
It said that BPI already filed a case against LLC, Kelly and Paterno to demand payment for its outstanding loan.
“Our clients strongly maintain that Ludo Power Corporation cannot validly operation a power plant on LLC properties because it has not been validly authorized by the board of directors and stockholders of LLC,” the letter said.