Manila Jockey expanding into leisure estate dev’t

Manila Jockey Club Inc. (MJC) is diversifying into beachfront leisure estate development by master-planning a 100-hectare project in Mamburao in Occidental Mindoro, grooming the area as a jumpoff point to popular diving site Apo Reef.

In an interview with the Inquirer, MJC chair Alfonso Reyno Jr. said his group had acquired a 77-hectare property in Mamburao with a four-kilometer beachfront. It will be developed by MJC, Southeast Asia’s oldest horse racing operator that is celebrating its 150th year this 2017.

Reyno said the group was also acquiring adjacent parcels of land to consolidate their holdings into a 100-hectare property that could be developed into a resort community.

“I’m now talking to Marbella, Dusit, Marriott and different [hotel] networks,” said Reyno, adding he would like to invite international hoteliers to put up beachfront hotels to attract foreign visitors.

“We will enter into [joint ventures] with them for the four-kilometer beachfront. I will apportion [a site for] them depending on their appetite, then link all properties with a main road at the back,” Reyno said.

After redeveloping its old racetrack in Sta. Cruz, Manila, into a business and tourism hub and transferring horse-racing operations to Carmona, Cavite, where it is also engaged in gaming and property development, MJC is now scaling up its footprint in tourism with this master-planned beachfront estate development in Mamburao.

“It’s a good location because it’s the closest jumpoff point to the Apo Reef,” said MJC president Alfonso Victorio Reyno III.

“So this Apo Reef is in the middle of Coron, Mindoro and Boracay area, forming a triangle. The typical jumpoff point are Coron and Boracay, but this is the closest jumpoff point once we’re able to redevelop Mamburao,” the younger Reyno said.

The 34-square kilometer Apo Reef in Occidental Mindoro is the second-largest contiguous coral reef in the world, next only to the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, and the biggest in the Philippines. In May 2006, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)’s Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) submitted the reef for consideration as a World Heritage Site of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).

The Apo Reef Natural Park lies around 33 kilometers off the coast of Sablayan in the province of Occidental Mindoro. Apo Island, where rangers have set up base, offer basic amenities for visiting divers, except potable water or electricity. It also features a historic lighthouse that dates back to the Spanish Colonial Period.

The Apo Reef Natural Park, including its peripheral buffer zone, is a marine sanctuary where fishing is banned. It is a popular site for tourists who bask in its fine white sands and enjoy its diverse coral species and other marine life.