Casinos, hospitals, hotels, call center offices and even a bowling alley, but no nightclubs, please.

A reemergence of recreational establishments and job opportunities is what former Sen. Ramon Revilla, chair of the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA), sees when a P200-billion international logistics hub rises in the former US naval base at Sangley Point in Cavite City.

“This is a longtime dream for Caviteños,” Revilla, now 81, said in an interview with the Inquirer at his house in Bacoor town in Cavite.

The Sangley Point Development Project can lead to various business establishments, he said, “but not the nightclubs that proliferated in the city before.”

Used by the American military since 1898 as a ship repair facility and berthing area before turning it over to the Armed Forces of the Philippines in 1971, Sangley Point is to be developed with three main components:

A 2,000-hectare reclamation project for export processing zones, industrial, commercial, military, institutional and tourism facilities.

An international seaport and container terminal for transporting passengers, cargoes and other finished products to industrial estates in Southern Luzon, and for serving the needs of an international logistics hub.

A modern international airport that will decongest the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and make international travel in Cavite more accessible.

“Once completed, it is expected to be Asia’s envy, rivaling existing hubs in Hong Kong and Singapore,” the actor-turned-politician said in a press statement.

Foreign investors

“The Sangley Point project will directly and laterally increase local and foreign investments, international trade, job opportunities and tourism related activities,” he said. “This will also be our answer to complaints constantly raised by foreign investors that we lack the infrastructure required to make their investments viable.”

A P16.7-million funding was allocated by the PRA to hire a consultancy firm that will determine the technical, economic and financial viability, social acceptability and environmental integrity of the Sangley Point project.

The winning bidder has six months to one year to complete a master plan before the project is bid out to contractors.

As a build-operate-transfer scheme, Revilla said the government would not spend a single centavo because foreign investors would shoulder the cost.

Already, the China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co. has expressed intention to invest in the container port but found Sangley Point too small. “That can be resolved by the reclamation component,” Revilla said.

“Practically, the national government and, firstly, the people of Cavite” will benefit from the project, he said. “Almost everyone in Cavite will have a job.”

Revilla recalled that when he was young, Cavite City was “progressive and with lots of entertainment establishments.” But he said the growth declined “when the Americans left.”

He admitted that the Sangley Point project was a birthday gift from Ms Arroyo, although he did not originally propose it.

“On my (80th) birthday, it suddenly came to my mind to ask the President if she can issue an executive order for the conversion of Sangley Point. And she said yes. This has been a long-standing proposal and she said it may finally be realized under my leadership,” Revilla said.

Three months later, the President signed Executive Order No. 629 directing the PRA to develop Sangley Point into an international logistics hub.

Revilla, however, said he had not talked personally with foreign investors, but “the President (Macapagal-Arroyo) talks to them.”

A distinct but complementing infrastructure project is the extension of the R-1 Expressway or Manila-Cavite Coastal Road which would also entail reclaiming land from Bacoor to Kawit coastal areas. It is now 40 percent complete.

‘Political connection’

A militant group, the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas, earlier issued a statement denouncing the Revilla family’s “political connection” and the widespread reclamation activities along Cavite’s coastal areas which, it said, would affect the livelihood of 26,000 fishing families.

Revilla, however, said the PRA was not responsible for families that would be displaced by its projects. He said the government did not pursue projects without taking the families’ livelihood into consideration.

“As a matter of fact, UEM-Mara [Phil. Corp.] and [the Department of Public Works and Highways] have been paying these people. If [the structure] is under water, that is UEM-Mara’s responsibility while [the DPWH] takes care of those inland. Practically, the PRA is not concerned with them,” Revilla said.

The Pamalakaya allegation puzzled him. “I even help these people as they are my constituents and I have the heart to help. When they are arrested for illegal parking in Makati (where PRA office is located), I’m the one who fixes for them. I entertain them in the conference room and give them merienda. I refer them to UEM-Mara or Public Works so they can be paid,” Revilla said in Filipino.

‘Grossly unfair’

“[Pamalakaya’s] statement is grossly unfair. Bong (his senator son) has nothing to do with R-1 while Strike (another son and Bacoor Mayor) is doing all he can for those who will be affected by the road extension. I have been assured by the proponent, UEM-Mara, that all those affected will be justly compensated,” Revilla said.

In a statement published on the Senate website, however, Bong Revilla said he would conduct an inquiry to determine a suitable relocation site for affected families and to find out if UEM-Mara still has the financial capabilities to finish the R-1 extension project.

“If they can not finish the project, it would be better that the government takes over. The delayed completion of the project aggravates the livelihood of our fisher folks,” Bong said.

Due to complaints that some families had not been paid in full by the DPWH, Strike Revilla said that the Bacoor government had offered to take care of the right-of-way payments.

The senior Revilla said the problem is that “the ranks of genuine claimants are padded by unscrupulous persons out to make a fast buck. This makes the payment process more tedious as the agencies involved have to weed (out) the genuine from the false claims.”

In a recent PRA board meeting, Revilla said he recommended Cavite Gov. Ayong Maliksi to be included as member of the executive committee for the development of Sangley Point.

The body is co-chaired by Revilla and Cavite City Mayor Bernardo Paredes, who was recently appointed head of the bids and awards committee for the Sangley Point project.