Nayong Pilipino property eyed as Naia cargo area

The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) will use the 22.3-hectare Nayong Pilipino property it recently acquired for the expansion of the cargo facility of the airport’s international terminals.

Connie Bungag, chief of the MIAA public affairs office, said that based on the project’s master plan, “a cargo city” which will support future cargo requirements of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminals 1, 2 and 3 will be built on the site of the former theme park in Pasay City.

Bungag said the site was also being considered for other aviation-related developments to accommodate the increase in passenger volume and aircraft movement at Naia.

Control over the property was handed over earlier this week to the MIAA. The property turnover was mandated by Executive Order No. 58 which was signed by President Benigno Aquino III in September 2011.

MIAA General Manager Jose Angel Honrado said work on the airport expansion projects will immediately begin following the turnover.

Established in 1969, the Nayong Pilipino theme park originally stood on a 45.9-hectare property. It was created under Presidential Decree 37 which assigned the land to the Nayong Pilipino Foundation (NPF) and prohibited its sale without the President’s approval.

It was considered the first theme park of its kind in Southeast Asia, featuring miniature versions of the country’s top tourist attractions, like Mayon Volcano in Albay province, Banaue rice terraces in The Cordilleras, Vigan houses in Ilocos Sur, Chocolate Hills in Bohol, and Magellan’s Cross in Cebu.

In 2002, the Arroyo administration stopped the park’s operations following the conversion of nearly nine hectares of the property into a parallel taxiway and service road connecting Naia Terminals 2 and 3.