Construction company Datem's firm position to go after its principal, real estate giant Megaworld, has been described as a "suicide mission," but its top officials insist the builder is only resorting to remedies provided under the contracts and is banking on the truth.

Megaworld's standard contract form, Datem president Lesley Villanueva said, contains a "no arbitration" clause. A Megaworld contract specifies that conflicts should be settled through the courts instead of the usual recourse of addressing differences through the Construction Industry Arbitration Commission, or CIAC.

This process is more tedious than the average three months of arbitration through the CIAC.

"We did not go public about the dispute. We merely went with the only option, which is via the regional trial court and not arbitration," Villanueva said.

"Whether or not the media picked it up, we have no control over that as these are already public documents," she added.

Datem filed a complaint after Megaworld reneged on payments based on a mutual agreement over several real estate projects.

Under the agreement, Datem would transfer completed projects "on the premise that Megaworld shall pay all claims."

Megaworld countered by accusing Datem of chronic delays in the implementation of the projects, which are the subjects of the mutual settlement.

Datem legal counsel Rufino Policarpio III said the allegations by Megaworld confirm that it had no intention to be bound by or to comply with its obligations under the mutual agreement.

"We have to do it, they have to stop because they are presenting one thing while doing another," he said.

According to the lawyer, the legal costs are prohibitive when you file a case against a big company such as Megaworld.

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