Mactan: The world’s first resort airport?

It was a busy week for the Cebu media because of the Mactan Airport deal, where last Wednesday, The Freeman editorial staff led by publisher Jerry Tundag and Freeman editor Queenie Bronce met with the top executives of Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC), notably  Tristan Las Marias, first vice-president for Visayas and Mindanao, Eleuterio Coronel, executive vice-president and chief operating officer (COO) and Jovita “Joy” Polloso, senior vice-president for retail operations, Festival Supermall, Inc. at the Filinvest owned Quest Hotel.

Of course, everyone expected that the Filinvest people would bring on the table their quest for getting the coveted, but controversial Mactan International Airport deal, where the Filinvest/Changi group came out as the second bidder with P13,999.99 billion. I asked a Chinese-Filipino businessman friend of mine why would Filinvest/Changi group make such a bid, like it was some kind of a bargain price? Why didn’t they go over the P14 billion mark? Well, my friend told me that in Chinese 4 is pronounced “si” which means “death,” that’s why their bid was a centavo short of P14 billion.

But to our surprise, Filinvest spokesman Terry Coronel told The Freeman that they were out on a “getting-to-know-you” media PR blitz, because as he pointed out that they need to improve their ties with Cebu. So in the end, Filinvest executives rattled off their various projects, of course they still mentioned the Mactan International Airport deal that they said they hope would be awarded to them. But there was no discussion.

What was new to us was that Filinvest has embarked on a power generation program in Misamis Oriental where they are putting up three 135 megawatts of clean coal energy which is headed by my good friend and fellow Rotarian, Jess Alcordo. Filinvest is headed in the right direction in this project especially that Mindanao today is suffering from 10-hour brownouts.

It was good for Coronel, Joy Polloso and Tristan Las Marias to start recognizing the Cebu media. I told them straight in the eye that perhaps the Cebu media was taken for granted by the Gotianun family because they come from Cebu and we’re glad that they have taken this new initiative.

Meanwhile, last Thursday, the Megawide/GMR group called their own presscon at the Marriott Hotel and yes, since this group has no other business interest in Cebu, naturally they focused on the Mactan Airport deal, which they won with their P14.4 billion bid. As we already wrote earlier, we first met with the Megawide/GMR group during the 888 News Forum at the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel. It was there that I dropped the question why the Mactan Airport deal didn’t include a second runway?

Andrew Acquaah-Harrison, deputy chief executive officer of Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport, replies that the DOTC did not require a second runway, as it is not yet needed at that time. But I warned them of the need to prepare for a second runway because it will assure Cebuanos of continued economic growth for Cebu. More importantly, Cebuanos do not want to see the runway traffic congestion already happening in NAIA to happen in Mactan because the DOTC is not looking forward.

In the Megawide/GMR lunch presscon last Thursday, Harrison thanked me for opening his eyes on the need of a second runway and he showed the Cebu media that it could be done… and that the future of Cebu can be assured. Then he went on to show us a powerpoint presentation of the world’s first resort airport, which would transform the Mactan Cebu International Airport into an airport that would become a tourist destination on its own. What Harrison showed us was far different from the first concept that they brought out, which former Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña dubbed “chicken poultry.”

Meanwhile we already pointed out that Sen. Serge Osmeña was siding with the Filinvest/Changi group. He sounded more like the lawyer of Filinvest when he threatened to sue Megawide/GMR. If you ask me, the DOTC officials are in a “damn-if-you-do, damn-if-you-don’t-situation.” If the DOTC awards the Mactan Airport deal to Megawide/GMR, they could face a suit from Sen. Serge Osmeña. But all they need to do is prove that all their bid documents are in order and the case would be thrown out of court and Sen. Serge Osmeña would lose the Cebuano votes.

On the other hand, if the DOTC cancels the award to Megawide/GMR and gives it to the Filinvest/Changi group they would face a suit from the Megawide/GMR group, which would cost them their retirement benefits. I’m sure the DOTC officials are carefully weighing their legal options. But in my book, the safer avenue is awarding it to the true winner of this bidding, Megawide/GMR, because a PBAC insider told me that all their bid documents are in order. So what’s the DOTC waiting for?

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