Forgotten lands

The Cordillera Autonomous Region is no more. Gone from Nayong Pilipino, that is.

Portions of the once popular park, including a replica of the forested area of the Cordillera have now been left seemingly unattended following acquisition by the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) a few months ago.

The old Nayong Pilipino was forced to close down after its old site in Pasay was transferred to NAIA.

During a visit to Nayong Pilipino the other day, several mediamen remarked that the portion which MIAA purchased to develop roads for the airport looked like a calamity zone, with several cut-up trees, including a large narra tree, left lying beside the road.

At the site were the deteriorating replicas of the native huts of the Cordillera Region as well as native houses of Samal and Mindanao and an abandoned Philippine Museum of Ethnography. Garbage was also scattered in the area.

The other day, police raided an abandoned building inside Nayong Pilipino following reports that it was being used as a haven by a kidnap-for-ransom group, led by a former policeman.

Portions of the Nayong Pilipino property purchased by the MIAA, reportedly some 8.6 hectares, would be utilized for the expansion of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) access roads and dual runway.

At an area of the Nayong Pilipino near a runway, the perimeter fence placed by the airport authority was a dilapidated metal fence supported by wooden materials used to make nipa huts.

Very few security guards were also seen inside the Nayong Pilipino property, using only a motorcycle to patrol and secure the very large area.

In a phone interview, MIAA General Manager Edgardo Manda said there is nothing they can do about the situation at the moment since they have to wait for the Supreme Court’s final decision on the NAIA Terminal 3.

"We cannot act on the access road construction while there is a pending case before the Supreme Court. We cannot start on it until a final decision is made," Manda told The STAR.

The Supreme Court has been asked to reconsider its decision that voided the contracts with the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. (PIATCO), an international consortium that developed NAIA Terminal 3.

Manda said that the High Court’s decision on the new motion would take about another month before any final decision could be made. He expressed that they need at least five months for the construction of access roads that would pass through the Nayong Pilipino property.

The airport chief said the government had estimated the cost of the purchase of the 8.6 hectares at around P400 million. A P50 million downpayment was made for the purchase. The balance will be paid in tranches until year 2004.

He said, originally, it was PIATCO that was obligated to construct the access roads leading to Terminal 3, and not MIAA based on the agreement made between the government and PIATCO.

The construction of the access roads, Manda said, was estimated at around $2.5 million. The access roads would connect NAIA Terminals 2 and 3.

Plans are underway to develop a new theme park. Fifteen hectares of a huge property at the Manila Bay reclamation area in Parañaque City is being eyed for the new theme park to be called "Ang Bagong Nayong Pilipino."