Three firms eye airport lot

THREE more real estate developers showed interest in purchasing the 300-hectare lot occupied by the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) in Lapu-Lapu City.

MCIA General Manager Nigel Paul Villarete told reporters yesterday that Robinson’s Land Corp. faxed him a letter expressing the company’s interest in buying the property.

He said Ayala Land and Filinvest Land Inc. also sent him e-mails expressing their interest in the lot.

Earlier, SM Prime Holdings wrote the airport board a letter expressing its interest to purchase the lot occupied by the airport.

The retail giant made the proposal after hearing reports that Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy offered a relocation site for the international airport within the area where the municipality will undertake its reclamation project.

Villarete said he will report these developments to the airport board and ask engineer Pericles Dakay, head of the airport’s planning and development committee, to study these offers.

The airport manager said the truism that an airport is beyond the commerce of man because it is a vital facility is not absolute.

“Look what happened to Lahug airport?” he asked, referring to the former Lahug airport site that became a business district. Correspondent Norman V. Mendoza