Megaworld begins relocation of squatters in old airport site
Megaworld Corporation, buyer of the old airport site in Mandurriao district, has taken all the responsibility for the transfer of informal households covered by the 54-hectare property they bought from the national government.
Iloilo City Urban Poor Affairs Office (Icupao) chief Roy Firmeza said Megaworld will transfer the 362 informal households from the property to their relocation site in Barangay Lanit, Jaro.
The three-hectare relocation site was purchased by Megaworld and not the city government, Firmeza said.
Firmeza said the property will be awarded free to the beneficiaries under the management of the city government. The city government and the Iloilo City Urban Poor Network only extended technical services to the corporation. At the same time, Firmeza said, the corporation will be the one to develop the area for the beneficiaries to have a conducive relocation site.
Since, February 2008, about 80 percent of the informal households have voluntarily dismantled their houses in favor of relocation. It was learned that each family were given P7,000 financial assistance and were provided with a cargo truck to transfer their belongings to Brgy. Lanit. Currently, there are still families who are on the process of transferring from Megaworld's property to the relocation site.
To note, Megaworld bought the old airport site at the cost of P1.2 billion. The 54-hectare property will be transformed into a "live-work-play-learn" community. The future business park will have a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) center, residential, hotel, convention center, commercial and retail outlets, skills training center and recreation facilities. This is the first major investment of Megaworld outside Metro Manila. Megaworld hired the topnotch services of architectural firm Palafox Associates in drafting a development master plan for the old airport lot.