End of an era

Around this time some seven years ago, or maybe more, I landed at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) and quickly caught a somnambulant spell. I found myself in what seemed like the set-up of a horror movie – Train to Busan maybe, or some other dystopian film. Why so? Around the airport, in between the conveyor belts for instance, I saw life-size horror statues, dolls and replicas of mostly mythical creatures distinct to the Philippines – aswang, engkanto, tikbalang and what-have-you.

It was Halloween, after all, and the airport’s concessionaire at the time, the Megawide and GMR consortium, wanted it to be a fun airport. And fun it was. Passengers were taking selfies with the monsters. Yet, it was also more than fun. MCIA transformed into a clean, efficient and world-class gateway, something Filipinos were happy about and proud of.

Megawide, led by tycoon Edgar Saavedra, together with their partner GMR, redeveloped the airport and the result was an award-winning gateway – Best PPP Project from organizations such as Project Finance International and EuroMoney-IJ Global; commendations in Airline Marketing from Routes Asia and Asia Pacific Regional Airport of the Year from the CAPA Center for Aviation.

Saavedra’s airport team, led by Louie Ferrer, then president of GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC), made significant improvements, including the construction of a new terminal with an iconic arched timber roof.

The group won the P17.5-billion airport project in 2014, during the Aquino administration.

Fast-forward to today, ten years after. The GMR Megawide-led MCIA era has come to an end as the Aboitiz Group takes full ownership of GMCAC.

Tomorrow, Oct. 30, is the last GMCAC board meeting for the GMR-Megawide team.

In September 2022, Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc. entered into a landmark deal with Megawide and GMR to acquire shares in GMCAC in a P25-billion deal that eventually paves the way for Aboitiz Infra to take full ownership of the airport venture by the end of the year.

It is a win-win for both groups. For Megawide, the successful airport project has helped the company establish a track record in infrastructure, proving it can turn things around, and for the Aboitiz conglomerate – well, they’ve always wanted to have an airport in their portfolio, so now, they’ve got what they wanted.

As Ed and Louie prepare to attend their last GMCAC board meeting tomorrow, I asked them recently if they feel nostalgic or sad as their airport stint comes to an end.

“It’s all good,” they said, adding that they got a good deal and would be able to unlock more opportunities as they re-engineer their portfolio toward new and more exciting projects.

Is another airport project possible for them? “If there’s a good opportunity,” said Ed.

Most of all, they’re proud to have contributed to Cebu’s development by providing the Queen City of the South with a world-class gateway.

It’s certainly the end of an era for MCIA but it also marks a new beginning for the Aboitiz Group.

The challenge now is for Aboitiz Infra, led by Cosette Canilao, to make the Cebu airport even better than when they first found it.

I just passed through MCIA’s domestic terminal last week and had a relatively comfortable experience, except that I wasn’t able to use the escalator at the arrival area because it was not working at the time.

Filipinos, and our foreign guests too, are so tired of our inefficient and unpredictable airports so the Aboitiz Group has a lot of work to do.

School infrastructure

As for Megawide, they are exploring other opportunities for growth while helping to create a first-world Philippines.

One project they did in the past – and which they hope to be given the opportunity to do again – is the PPP for School Infrastructure Project or PSIP.

This project involves the design, financing and construction of thousands of classrooms.

Megawide participated in the past two rounds of PSIP, constructing 10,000 classrooms across six regions in the country. We should have more of these projects, given the current classroom backlog.

Even the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) recognizes the need for private sector partnerships to help address the classroom backlog.

Says an Oct. 11, 2024 article published on the EDCOM 2 website:

“As of January 2024, the Department of Education estimates that 165,443 additional classrooms are needed nationwide to address the overcrowding crisis in public schools.

“A recent Commission on Audit report noted that only 192 out of the targeted 6,379 classrooms slated for completion in 2023 were built, highlighting significant delays in school infrastructure projects.”

Furthermore, EDCOM 2 said only 30 percent of the country’s 323,378 school buildings are currently in good condition, the article said.

Read that again – we need over 160,000 classrooms.

Compounding the issue is a declining budget for basic education – from P118 billion in 2017 to just P5.95 billion in 2022, the article also said.

Against this backdrop, the Marcos administration can certainly utilize private sector partnerships to address our classroom shortage. This is an investment in the Filipino youth.

We all know there’s an education crisis. Filipino students are lagging behind their counterparts in the region in many aspects.

Poor facilities, or the lack thereof, are among the culprits.

Clearly, the real monsters hurting our society are not the spooky life-sized paper mache replicas that appear during Halloween but our perennial ills – corruption, poor quality of education, income inequality, etc.

Our government must slay these monsters before it’s too late.

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Email: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.