Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 6) — President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered five agencies to work on a plan to redevelop the Mile Long property in Makati, three years after the government took back the lot from a private firm.
Duterte directed the Department of Finance, the Department of Budget and Management, Bureau of the Treasury, Privatization Management Office (PMO), and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) to form a technical working group and craft a redevelopment and privatization plan for the two-hectare property through Administrative Order No. 21 issued on January 29.
The PMO has been in charge of the property along Amorsolo Street in Legaspi Village, which used to be occupied by Sunvar Realty Development Corporation. The company reportedly owes ₱1.676 billion in unpaid rent, excluding interest, to the state.
Sunvar is owned by the Prieto and Rufino families. They also own the Philippine Daily Inquirer, a broadsheet often criticized by the President.
Solicitor General Jose Calida previously said that Sunvar occupied the prime lot in the Makati Business District since 1982 under a lease agreement that expired in 2002. The company continued to rent out the space for 14 years without paying anything to the government, instead lodging a legal battle for the space.
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Sunvar tenants have been told to vacate the property three years ago by order of the Court of Appeals. The government took over in August 2017, with the Finance department collecting an average of ₱6.7 million per month from leases.
The DOF said there are 309 available spaces for lease in the building, plus parking areas.
The President said he wants to use these collections to pay military pensions, which have risen significantly as these are benchmarked on the salaries received by soldiers in active duty.
“The development of the Mile Long property, considering its location in one of the country’s premiere business districts, will greatly contribute to the generation of revenues for priority programs of the government, including, among others, the pension program of military and uniformed personnel,” the order read, which was released Thursday.
Malacañang instructed the PMO to sign a deal with BCDA that will allow the latter to manage and redevelop the property before it is eventually sold to a private owner. BCDA has been in charge of converting military bases in Clark, Pampanga, the New Clark City in Tarlac; the Bonifacio Global City; and McKinley Hill in Taguig into business districts.
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