DOTr: 9 regional airports to be bundled into 2 PPPs

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is planning to hand over nine airports in two separate packages to the private sector to complement its own efforts to improve regional gateways.

At the 2025 Philippine Aviation Summit, Transportation Undersecretary Jim Sydiongco said the DOTr is currently reviewing the bundled airport projects prepared by multilateral agencies.

The DOTr tapped the World Bank’s International Finance Corp. (IFC) to firm up a public-private partnership (PPP) framework for the Davao, Dumaguete and Siargao airports.

The DOTr also hired the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to work on a similar PPP project for the Laoag, Bicol, Busuanga, Bacolod, Tacloban and General Santos airports. Both IFC and ADB are signed as transaction advisers by the DOTr for the bundling of airport PPPs.

Once the projects are approved, they will be offered to the private sector via solicited bidding. In this process, the DOTr will set the bid parameters that parties have to consider when submitting their offers.

Under former transport chief Vince Dizon, the DOTr has employed a new approach when turning over airports to the private sector by packaging them into groups to raise their value.

Although the DOTr is eyeing to solicit offers for its airport bundles, this has failed to discourage private firms from coming up with their own proposals to take over gateways.

The Philippine Regional Airports Consortium, led by the Gokongwei and Gotianun clans, submitted a P16-billion offer to operate and maintain the Davao, Bicol and Siargao airports.

The DOTr is also evaluating unsolicited proposals for airport development. The Villars, for one, want to take over the operations and maintenance of the Iloilo and Puerto Princesa airports.

Right now, the DOTr is negotiating the terms of the P21.27-billion proposal of Villar-led Prime Asset Ventures Inc. (PAVI) to rehabilitate and expand the Iloilo International Airport. The DOTr is also waiting for PAVI to reconcile its paperworks for the P11.63-billion upgrade of the Puerto Princesa International Airport.

Sydiongco also confirmed that the DOTr has revoked the earlier proposal of Mega7 Construction Corp. to operate and maintain the Kalibo International Airport.

Sydiongco said there is a need for the DOTr to review the position of the airport in Kalibo given that air traffic in Aklan is concentrated in Caticlan, which leads to tourist haven Boracay.