DEAD DEAL: Iloilo City dumps PHP 18.27B reclamation project

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

A proposed PHP 18.27 billion, 662-hectare island-type reclamation project in Iloilo City will no longer proceed after negotiations between the city government and the project proponent collapsed, according to the city’s Public-Private Partnership office.

PPP Iloilo City head Atty. David Abraham G. Garcia said the proponent failed to meet several requirements during the negotiation stage mandated under Republic Act 11966, also known as the PPP Code.

The city government subsequently declared a failure of negotiations, effectively removing the project from further consideration.

“We had a failure of negotiation with the reclamation. There are requirements that they failed to complete, and even if they attempted to comply, they could not finish before the deadline,” Garcia said.

“Because of that we declared a failure of negotiation. Now, it is off the table. There is none anymore,” he added.

The unsolicited proposal was submitted by Iloilo Global City Corp., an associate of publicly listed property developer Cebu Landmasters Inc.

Cebu Landmasters is one of the largest real estate developers in the Visayas and Mindanao, with a portfolio spanning residential, commercial, and mixed-use projects across the southern Philippines.

The project proposed reclaiming about 662 hectares of land along Iloilo City’s coastline, spanning areas from Fort San Pedro in the City Proper district to Villa Arevalo and portions of the coastal area in Jaro.

Had the project pushed through, it would have been one of the largest reclamation undertakings outside Metro Manila, comparable in scale to some of the most ambitious coastal development proposals in the country.

Under the PPP Code, unsolicited proposals undergo a negotiation stage that must be completed within a maximum of 150 calendar days from the issuance of a notice to commence negotiations.

Garcia did not disclose the specific requirement that the proponent failed to submit, noting that the matter had already been discussed during earlier stages of the negotiation process.

The project proposal has also been removed from the PPP Center’s online dashboard, which tracks ongoing PPP projects nationwide.

Despite the cancellation, Garcia said the Iloilo City government remains open to receiving future reclamation proposals from other private developers.

“If there are new offers, as long as we see that it’s beneficial for the city, we will accept. The city will always acknowledge the fact, especially in addressing big issues or problems of the city, the city government cannot do it alone,” he said.

Under the proposal of Iloilo Global City Corp., the city government was expected to receive 51 percent of the reclaimed land without spending public funds, representing the combined share of the national and local governments.

The private proponent would have retained the remaining 49 percent of the reclaimed property for commercial and mixed-use development.

Reclamation projects in the Philippines require approval from the Philippine Reclamation Authority and are governed by a regulatory framework that involves both national and local government oversight, environmental compliance, and public consultation processes.

In May last year, Garcia said the city government was planning to secure full ownership of its share of the reclaimed land through a presidential proclamation to ensure the city’s control over its portion of the development.