Lopez firm wins bid for Philtown property

LOPEZ-LED First Philippine Holdings Corp. has won the bidding for a 46.5-hectare property in Philtown Industrial Park in Tanauan, Batangas, expanding its industrial estate portfolio.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, FPH said it had been selected the winning bidder for the Philtown property—a 464,961-square meter land and improvements.

The land was auctioned off by Brilliante Realty Corp.  Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation owns the improvements.

FPH has an existing interest in industrial estate development with its 70-percent stake in First Philippine Industrial Park (FPIP), which also operates in Tanauan and Sto. Tomas, Batangas.  Its partner is Sumitomo Corp. which has a 30-percent stake.

FPIP is registered with Philippine Economic Zone Authority.

“The Philtown acquisition will provide FPIP reserve land for incoming locators. Our current site in Tanauan and Sto. Tomas Batangas is already full. A 65-hectare adjacent property we acquired from SMC (San Miguel Corp.) two years ago was almost completely sold out in one year,” Danilo Gozo, FPH executive adviser on corporate communications, said in a text message.

“FPH thru FPIP will continue to invest in industrial estates because they create jobs and help stimulate the economy,” Gozo added.

Southern Luzon, particularly the Cavite-Laguna-Batangas, Rizal-Quezon growth corridor, has a critical mass of industrial estates and is known to foreign locators. But due to the surge in demand in recent years, available space dwindled.

Several property developers tend to prioritize residential over industrial estate projects where yields are better compared to industrial estate development.

A usual criticism on the Philippine growth model is the country’s jump from agrarian to services-oriented economy while skipping the manufacturing-led phase, which is critical in creating more jobs especially for low- and semi-skilled workers. Doris C. Dumlao