Gokongwei-Gotianun group bags OPS for regional airports

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July 24, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The Gokongwei and Gotianun families have received original proponent status (OPS) from the government to take over three regional airports at a higher cost of P21.61 billion.

According to the website of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center, the Philippine Regional Airports Consortium has secured the OPS for its unsolicited offer to rehabilitate the Davao, Bicol and Siargao airports.

The OPS was granted by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) in June, exactly a year after initiating a review of the proposal.

However, the project cost for the rehabilitation went up by 35 percent to P21.61 billion. Initially, the consortium had proposed to spend just P16.05 billion, indicating that CAAP may have asked it to increase investments.

With the OPS, the consortium gained the upper hand against prospective bidders for the project. CAAP will accept comparative proposals from other parties, but the consortium holds the right to match any counter-offer.

Currently, CAAP is completing pre-approval requirements before it proceeds to the next stage of opening the project to other bids.

The consortium consists of the Gokongweis’ JG Summit Infrastructure Holdings Corp. and the Gotianuns’ Filinvest Infra-Solutions Venture Inc., together with the Asian Infrastructure and Management Corp.

The group wants to operate and maintain the Davao International Airport and Bicol International Airport for 30 years, as well as the Sayak Airport for 15 years.

In the meantime, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) is pushing on with its infrastructure development for the Sayak Airport in Siargao. Acting Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez wants the airport night-rated to be able to handle evening flights.

“We are doing what we call night rating. When an airport gets a night rating, we can expect more flights, and with more flights the natural tendency is that fares go down,” Lopez said.

By August, the DOTr will begin the design phase to extend the airport’s runway to at least 2,100 meters, making it capable of landing single-aisle aircraft.

Right now, tourists lament the high cost of flights to Siargao, which airlines blame on its airport’s incapacity to handle larger jets for cost efficiency.