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By Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio, Reporter
Cerberus Capital Management LP has presented an unsolicited offer to manage the Subic Bay International Airport, as stated by a Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) official on Monday.
The American investment company suggested to “assume control” of the Subic airport as a component of its strategy to rejuvenate the facility, which previously was part of a larger US naval base prior to its closure in the 1990s, SBMA Deputy Administrator Vicente A. Evidente, Jr. mentioned during a House of Representatives hearing.
“Cerberus has… proposed an unsolicited plan to take over the Subic Bay International Airport,” he informed lawmakers.
The US firm’s growth initiatives at Subic Bay arise amidst renewed American interest in enlarging its presence in the Philippines due to China’s escalating assertiveness in the South China Sea.
Cerberus already manages a portion of a 310-hectare site of a former South Korean-owned shipyard situated west of the airport for which it had presented an unsolicited proposal.
The US Marine Corps has already leased a 57,000-square-foot warehouse at the bay to stage vehicles and engineering equipment, while the US Navy is also considering a nearby 25,000-square-meter climate-controlled facility for lease, as reported by USNI News.
“There is a sustained forward deployed presence of US forces in the port of Subic Bay,” Mr. Evidente stated. “There is a regular rotation of US Navy warships every time due to the fact that Scarborough Shoal is only situated 200 kilometers from the port.”
The Philippines and China have been at odds over contested features in the South China Sea, resulting in maritime confrontations as Manila resists what it characterizes as Beijing’s incursion of waters within its exclusive economic zone.
Beijing asserts claims over nearly all of the strategic waterway through a U-shaped, 1940s nine-dash line map that overlaps with the exclusive waters of the Philippines and neighboring countries like Vietnam and Malaysia despite a 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that nullified its claims.
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