China Banking Corp will not sell the land under the failed Emerald Bay casino project until its financial expectations are met.
“There are offers,” Chinabank Chairman Hans Sy said in a recent interview with GMA News. “We’ll negotiate. When we get a price that we find is good, then we sell.”
Emerald Bay was a $300 million project from Filipino billionaire Dennis Uy’s PH Resorts Group (PHR). It first broke ground in 2017, with a plan to open in 2021. Then Covid-19 intervened. Amid labour shortages, supply-chain issues and funding challenges, construction stalled, never to resume.
PHR launched a series of partnership discussions to jump-start the development. Would-be investors included Tiger Resort Leisure & Entertainment Inc, which operates Okada Manila; Enrique Razon’s Bloomberry Resorts; and Philippines developer AppleOne Group. But none of the ventures materialised.
In December 2024, construction firm EEI Corp agreed to help complete the long-stalled IR. That alliance also dissolved.
End of PHR’s Cebu ambitions
Phase 1 of Emerald Bay would have included a 7,585 sqm casino with 1,186 electronic gaming machines and 146 tables. The beachfront resort was to feature a five-star hotel, four pools, 18 dining outlets, a retail district and meeting facilities.
PHR lost control of the property last March, when a 2023 leaseback agreement expired and lender Chinabank refused to renew.
“We gave them a chance – a year and a half – because we don’t want to be ruthless,” Sy said. “We gave Dennis a chance to redeem.”
The last straw broke in December, when the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp revoked Emerald Bay’s provisional gaming licence.
Sy said he expects 2026 to be a “challenging” year. As a result, Chinabank will focus on small and medium enterprises, which present “better opportunities than working with such a big entity … I don’t want to be putting all eggs in one basket.”