A Makati City Court has voided the P34-billion Manila Bay reclamation venture of the Gatchalian family, saying it did not undergo the required competitive bidding process.
The Manila Waterfront City proposal is a mixed-use development spanning 318 hectares that would be located west of the Quirino Grandstand up to the breakwater of Manila South Harbor.
The joint venture, signed in 2017, was led by the City of Manila and Waterfront Manila Premier Development Inc., owned by the Gatchalian family.
But in an order last April 25, the Makati Court nullified the venture for various violations.
No Neda approval
It said the City of Manila and Waterfront “failed to secure the required [National Economic and Development Authority] board approval and because the Manila Waterfront City reclamation project did not undergo public bidding as required.”
The court also recognized a project award granted three decades ago to petitioner, Asean Seas Resources and Construction Development Corp., which is led by the heirs of the late construction pioneer Felipe Cruz, founder of F.F. Cruz & Co. Inc.
Thus, the order directed the City of Manila and Philippine Reclamation Authority to “cease and desist from acting on any application submitted by any person or taking any action required by any person except petitioner over the area previously awarded to petitioner embodied in the notice of award dated 21 March 1991.”
The Manila Waterfront City was the fourth major reclamation project under then mayor and former President, Joseph “Erap” Estrada.
It was meant to host commercial centers, residential buildings, hotels, casinos and government buildings and sports facilities.
President Duterte’s ban
In 2020, then President Rodrigo Duterte said he would ban private reclamation projects in Manila Bay except for those connected to government projects and those that were previously approved.
The following year, the Philippine Competition Commission approved the Manila-Waterfront venture, saying the project “will expand the existing market and likely create an opportunity for the emergence of new markets for commercial and residential real estate within the City of Manila.”
In 2020, Asean Seas Resources filed the suit in Makati after learning of the joint venture agreement.
The company said the Manila Waterfront City would encroach on their 140-hectare reclamation proposal within the boundary of the Manila-Cavite Coastal Road Project known as the MCCRP-North Sector Reclamation Project.
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