A Nosy Tarsee riddle: Which homegrown construction giant just cashed a check worth over P205 million, and earned every centavo the hard way?

The story goes back to early 2023, when the publicly listed construction powerhouse filed a complaint against the real estate arm of one of the country’s most storied family conglomerates, whose name is practically synonymous with an entire metro district.

The dispute involved a gleaming commercial tower project that apparently left some bills unpaid and some claims unresolved.

The construction firm marched into arbitration with an original claim of nearly P340 million. The arbitral body returned a gross award of almost P597 million in their favor.

The other side got their own P416 million, but when the dust settled, the net figure still landed squarely in the builder’s corner: P180.24 million, plus 6-percent annual interest ticking from the day of the final award.

The conglomerate’s subsidiary didn’t take it lying down. They escalated all the way to the highest court of the land, hoping to find a reversible error in the arbitration. The High Court’s First Division was unmoved — dismissing the petition and noting, pointedly, that the issues raised were substantially factual in nature.

Fast forward to this month, and the construction firm finally received the full settlement: P205.7 million, including accrued interest, paid in full; no further escape routes available.