Ortigas & Co. still keen to develop Camp Aguinaldo, Crame

MANILA, Philippines — Ortigas & Co., one of the oldest property developers in the country, is revisiting plans to develop a portion of Camp Aguinaldo and Camp Crame, two base camps that are strategically located along Metro’s Manila’s main highway.

In a press briefing last week, Ortigas & Co. president and CEO Jaime E. Ysmael said the company has plans to develop roughly 34 hectares of properties in the two camps. 

Ysmael said there are discussions with the two government agencies sitting on the camps, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine Nationa Police, but no decision has been made yet. 

“There’s always been discussions. It comes and goes depends on the administration.

It’s something that we are continuing to pursue,” he said.

Camp Aguinaldo and Camp Crame occupy an area of 220 hectares. Of the total, Ortigas & Co. donated 34 hectares in the 1950s.

According to the deed of donation, Ortigas & Co. can get back the donated portion of the property if it is no longer being used for the original purpose it was intended for in the donation. 

Thus, a clause in the donation documents states that if the government decides to convert the camp into other uses, Ortigas & Co. gets back the donated portion.

If the company gets the donated portion back, it plans to develop the 34-hectare property into a mixed use district similar to its other developments such as Capital Commons and the Greenhills complex.

Ortigas & Co. has long been planning to get back the donated property, noting that the location has become ideal for commercial development.

Former officials of the company said a military camp would be more suitable in other areas such as the former Clark Air Base in Pampanga, which can also provide better housing facilities.

The company has submitted a proposal to develop the lots during the Arroyo administration, but talks bogged down when Defense Secretary Avelino J. Cruz Jr. quit his post in 2006.

Ortigas & Co.’s projects include the 16-hectare Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan; the 10-hectare Circulo Verde in Kalye Industriya, and the 10-hectare Capitol Commons near the Ortigas area.

Ysmael said the company’s growth momentum is strong on the back of the country’s steady economic growth and rosy fundamentals. 

In 2014, the SM Group and Ayala Land Inc. made their entry to the company by partnering with the Ortigas family, the family behind Ortigas & Co.