Full dev’t of Sangley Point in the works

As it was during the Spanish and American colonial period, Sangley Point in Cavite will soon be the Philippines’ newest, biggest and most modern shipping and air transport support facility.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has directed an inter-agency group to look into the viability of converting some 4,000 hectares in Sangley Point into a major sea and air hub of global standards.

“The development of Sangley Point is a very ambitious program being sponsored by the Department of National Defense (DND),’’ said Presidential spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao.

“The President has tasked Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes and some of her advisers to look closely into the proposal,’’ Tiglao said.

In last week’s cabinet meeting, Reyes presented to President Macapagal-Arroyo an overview of the Sangley Point Development Project (SPDP) that involves the reclamation of some 4,000 hectares around Sangley Point for mixed-use development.

Reyes said the project calls for the establishment of a modern naval air base, which Sangley Point used to be in 1945-following the victory of the Allies in World War II.

He said Sangley Point would also be home to a big seaport that could service giant “super panamax’’ container ships and to an international airport.

Historically, Sangley Point served as a shipyard where the Spanish galleons were built and where American submarines berthed. It also had an airstrip where American bombers took off and landed during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines.

Reyes said the necessary amenities – to include housing and livelihood facilities; commerrcial and industrial areas; schools, hospitals, and other institutions; parks and playgrounds, roads and a rail system and others – would also be put up.

The President’s interest in seeing through the DND-initiated project was further reinforced when Reyes explained that the completion and operationalization of the SPDP would bring about massive employment, foreign exchange earnings and domestic revenues, and the use of local materials.

Besides this, the SPDP would free portions of the 600-hectare Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) complex for conversion to residential, commercial, and industrial uses.

It will also make available the headquarters of the Philippine Navy along Roxas Boulevard, to be transferred to the SPDP on its completion, for similar income-raising potential.

Reyes also stressed that revenue generated from the SPDP could be used for the Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program.

Sangley Point is located on a peninsula jutting into Manila Bay about eight miles southwest of Manila.

The peninsula got its name from Chinese merchants, then known as xiang-li, who were distrusted by the Spanish colonial government that ruled the country since 1527.

The Spanish colonizers restricted the business activities of the Chinese merchants to the narrow strip of land across the bay, which eventually bore their name.