FEELS like déjà vu.
The site of the disputed mega-vaccination center at the Nayong Pilipino Foundation (NPF) property in Parañaque City, is part of the 9.5-hectare property where Hong Kong-based casino and resort developer, Landing International Development Ltd., would have built its casino. Until the entire board of the NPF was fired by President Duterte in August 2018, that is, for signing a contract with Landing that was then deemed highly disadvantageous to the national government as the project did not undergo bidding.
This time around, it is the current NPF Board of Trustees that is holding on to the property, according to BusinessMirror sources, apparently to “protect” a contract with Megaworld Corp., from which it receives some “P51 million a month” in rent. The lease contract, which covers 5.5-hectares, was also signed by the previous NPF Board, and did not undergo bidding, the same sources added. This prompted the Department of Tourism (DOT) to seek a legal opinion from the Department of Justice (DOJ) on whether that contract could be enforced by the current NPF Board.
The disputed lot was to be the site of NPF’s Project Sambayanihan, a 9.5-hectare urban forest park and creative hub. NPF’s property along New Seaside Drive in Parañaque spans 15-hectares of reclaimed land, planted with fast-growing ipil-ipil, a shrub endemic to Mexico.
The proponent of the mega-vaxx center, ICTSI Foundation, has hired renowned architect and environmental planner Felino Palafox Jr. to design the facility. The architect earlier clarified that the space the NPF assigned for the facility is “away from the trees.” (See, “Mega-Vaxx Site at Nayong Pilipino Stalled,” in the BusinessMirror, May 7, 2021.)
Resorts World to fund cultural park
A series of memos regarding the mega-vaxx facility obtained by the BusinessMirror confirms the lease contract between the NPF and Resorts World Bayshore City Inc., the integrated casino resort developer of the Andrew Tan-led Megaworld Corp.
In a memorandum to NPF Executive Director Lucille Karen E. Malilong-Isberto dated April 6, 2021, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat asked: “The undersigned wishes to clarify if Nayong Pilipino will fund the same [Sambayanihan Park] using the advance lease rentals from Megaworld? If so, the Board may wish to consider that there is still a pending request for an opinion from the [DOJ] on the validity of the Megaworld lease contract entered into by the previous board. The undersigned encourages the Board to exercise caution and circumspect on this regard.”
In response, Malilong-Isberto said: “In connection with Project Sambayanihan, indeed, the intention is to fund the same using the advance lease rentals from Megaworld/Resorts World Bayshore City Inc. (RWBCI). While we are aware that there is a pending request for opinion from the [DOJ], it is imperative that the essential facts be disclosed in order for it to properly render such a decision.”
Government sources disclosed, however, that documents promised by the NPF have yet to be turned over to the DOJ.
Malilong-Isberto resigned as an NPF Trustee on May 5 but did not give a reason for her action in the letter she addressed to President Duterte through Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.
In its meeting on April 10, the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases approved the use of the NPF property for the mega-vaxx center. While the NPF is a government-owned and -controlled corporation under the DOT, it is not chaired by the tourism secretary.