STRATEGIC LOCATION This November 2024 photo shows the Mindanao Container Terminal inside the 3,000-hectare Phividec industrial estate spanning Tagoloan and Villanueva towns in Misamis Oriental. A naval base will soon rise not far from the port to take advantage of the area’s deep-sea capability. —RYAN D. ROSAURO
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines — The management of state-owned Phividec Industrial Authority (PIA) has expressed confidence they will be able to accommodate the national government’s plan to establish a naval base within its 3,000-hectare industrial estate in Misamis Oriental province.
PIA administrator Donato Bernedo said they were already in talks with the Department of National Defense (DND) and the Philippine Navy on identifying a suitable location for the facility, which will have mixed military and civil defense uses.
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The Phividec estate that spans across Tagoloan and Villanueva towns is an economic zone registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., who laid out to the public the government’s plan last November, said the base, when established, would become the largest naval facility in Mindanao that would function as the Navy’s operational nerve center in the region. It will have a dockyard for ship maintenance to ensure fleet readiness and host a disaster response hub.
Teodoro had said they targeted the facility to be completed by 2026 as funding through the Office of the President was ready.
The Phividec industrial estate lies about 30 kilometers from the Lumbia air base in Cagayan de Oro City, one of the installations covered by the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement between the country and the United States.
This allows the upcoming naval facility to complement the Lumbia airbase’s logistics function, both for military and civil defense purposes.
Business demands
Apart from hosting a Philippine Air Force wing, the Lumbia facility is also slated to host the operations center of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
According to Bernedo, among the areas identified for the naval base is a 300-ha property with some 800 meters of sea frontage that used to be reserved for an integrated steel milling venture that did not push through.
The area has deep-sea capability, Bernedo noted, which made it attractive for the naval base planners.
But he clarified that while they were eager to help prop up the defense capability of the country, they also wanted to harmonize the planned facility with the demands of some 200 existing business locators in the industrial estate.
Recently, PIA signed an agreement for a 25-year extension of the operation of Mindanao International Container Terminal Services Inc. (MICTSI) of the Mindanao Container Terminal, the region’s main international trading platform.
With the contract, MICTSI is set to invest $100 million to expand the port’s berthing capacity to accommodate larger vessels as well as increase the terminal’s capacity to handle more cargo.