MANILA -The Chinese proponent of a $1.5-billion integrated casino resort at the Nayong Pilipino property in Parañaque City that was scuttled in 2018 is not taking further efforts to save its provisional license as it could still not find an alternative site five years later.
In a disclosure filed at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange where its shares are traded, Shin Hwa World Ltd. said it decided not to seek further extension of the deadline to identify a new site by June 30 as required by Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor).
On July 25, 2018, when it was still known as Landing International Development Ltd., the company announced that it had secured a provisional license from Pagcor to establish and operate a casino that would be built within the Entertainment City district of Parañaque City.
Two weeks later, on Aug. 7, the company announced that its fully owned subsidiary Landing Resorts Philippines Development Corp. broke ground for the project and was “on track to open a Filipino-inspired iconic integrated leisure and entertainment resort at the Entertainment City.”
What could have been
The project was meant to occupy a 95,700-square-meter parcel of land and will consist of what would have been Asia’s first and largest indoor movie-based theme park; 1,500 luxury hotel rooms; a convention center with a 4,000-seater pillar-free grand ballroom; a shopping mall with a variety of international brands, and a world-class casino.
The much-touted integrated resort was scheduled to open by 2022.
However, soon after the groundbreaking, then President Rodrigo Duterte fired the entire board of Nayong Pilipino for engaging in a 70-year lease contract that the Department of Justice subsequently described as disadvantageous to the government and declared as void.
A year later, in September 2019, the company said that with the Nayong Pilipino contract voided, Pagcor now required Landing to “submit a proof of ownership or lease of land within 180 days or by March 2020.
If Landing Philippines fails to do so, its provisional license may be revoked or suspended. However, the COVID-19 pandemic hampered these efforts and the deadline was moved.
More recently, the deadline lapsed last June 30.In a July 7 disclosure to the Hong Kong bourse, Shin Hwa said its board of directors “has yet to identify a suitable lease of land to develop an integrated resort in the Philippines for satisfying the requirements of the provisional license within the prescribed period as required by” Pagcor.
“In light of the prevailing market conditions and the feasibility of fulfilling the requirements set out under the provisional license, [we have] decided not to seek further extension for the provision of a remedy,” the company added.
Instead, Shin Hwa will continue to focus on another project which is already operating in South Korea.
“[We do] not rule out the possibility of participating in any other project(s) in the Philippines in whatsoever scale or nature, to be carefully assessed and determined in future,” it added.