Nayong Pilipino gives way to airport project

The 30-year-old Nayong Pilipino cultural park will soon be closed to the public for the construction of a parallel taxiway at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) 3 terminal, Nayong Pilipino Foundation Inc. (NPFI) Executive Director Charito Planas said yesterday.

This developed as the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) has agreed to pay P500 million for the 8.6-hectare of land the NPFI has ceded to the airport authority "for safety reasons."

Planas said the NPFI board has approved MIAA’s proposed payment scheme. The closure will take place as soon as the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), which will be prepared by MIAA, is signed, she added. She estimated that this would not be later than April 15.

In a letter addressed to Planas, MIAA General Manager Edgardo Manda proposed to pay P300 million in "four equal installments within 12 months, with the initial payment amounting to P75-million to be paid upon signing of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA)."

The remaining P225 million will be paid within the succeeding four years at P50 million each year, Manda continued.

The 8.6 hectares comprise some 80 percent of the cultural park proper, which includes the Tagalog, Visayas, and Mindanao regions.

A new Nayong Pilipino, Planas said, will be built on the park’s remaining 38 hectares, which incidentally, the airport authority also wants to be reconveyed to MIAA and converted to an international cargo terminal.

Planas said the NPFI agreed to cede part of their property needed by MIAA in compliance with International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) safety standards.

The airport authority earlier claimed it could only afford to pay the NPFI P300 million. But Planas had maintained that the compensation package NPFI demanded was much lower than the actual market value of the land which is pegged at approximately P2 billion.

"I’m biting the bullet, so to speak," Manda told The STAR in a telephone interview.

He said that the MIAA’s schedule for the construction of the parallel taxiway has been pushed back because of the standoff about the compensation package.

"I’m worried about the delay in the timetable," Manda said.