SMC, Ayala Land, SM keen on ‘Payanig’ lot

MANILA, Philippines–The SM Group, Ayala Land and San Miguel Corp. have shown early interest in the disputed 18.5-hectare “Payanig” property near the Ortigas business district in Metro Manila.

Andres Bautista, chair of the state-run Presidential  Commission on Good Government, said Tuesday in a text message that Ayala Land, SM Development Corp. and San Miguel Properties had acquired bid documents for the property, parts of which were still subject to legal claims by various parties.

Bautista said two more bid documents were acquired by individuals, though their principals remain undisclosed at this time.
He said other interested parties could still acquire bid documents until May 15 this year. The submission of offers was set for June 3, 2015.

The Payanig lot—located at the corner of Ortigas, Meralco and Doña Julia Vargas Avenues—is best known for the Metro Walk commercial development.

PCGG had set a minimum offer price of P16.45 billion for the property, equivalent to about P89,000 per square meter.

“We are still evaluating. The bidding is in June, still,” Jeffrey Lim,  SM Prime Holdings chief financial officer, said in a text message. SM Prime is the listed owner of SM Development.

PCGG noted in its bid invite that the Payanig property was being auctioned off on an  “as-is-where-is” basis due to ongoing cases involving its ownership.

Businessman Jose Y. Campos—a known associate of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos—surrendered to the PCGG the two land titles of the  property owned by Mid-Pasig Land Development Corp. after Marcos was ousted by a popular revolt in 1986. Mid-Pasig remains the registered owner of the land, the PCGG invite showed.

A portion of the property is being claimed by a company controlled by former Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson, previous reports showed.

PCGG said in its 2012 annual report that the Ortigas family had filed a case stemming from a 1990 complaint alleging that Marcos exercised “intimidation and undue influence” over then owner Francisco Ortigas.

This resulted in the sale of the property to Mid-Pasig Land. The complaint added that the surrender made by Campos should be considered null and void.

The SM and Ayala Groups became major shareholders of the Ortigas clan’s flagship property firm, OCLP Holdings, after the family ended a long-running disagreement last year.