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Megaworld CorporationMegaworld Corporation (PSE: MEG) is a subsidiary and real estate arm of the holding company, Alliance Global Group, Inc., both Chaired by the Filipino-Chinese businessman and industrialist, Andrew Tan. It pioneered the "live-work-play" concept by developing residential buildings, office buildings and commercial centers into one community.

The company has been named by Superbrands as one of the Philippinesโ€™ leading brands in terms of consumer loyalty and preference. As of November 25, 2010, it has a total market capitalization of P65.1 billion and share price of P2.47.

Contents [hide]1 History2 Controversies2.1 Cambridge Village Licenses to Sell3 Township Projects3.1 Cambridge Scam3.2 Eastwood City3.3 Forbes Town Center3.4 McKinley Hill3.5 Newport City3.6 Manhattan Garden City3.7 Cityplace3.8 Awards and Recognition3.9 Board of Directors3.10 External links3.11 Citation[edit] History

In 1989, Filipino-Chinese businessman and Taipan Andrew Tan, founded Megaworld Properties and Holdings, Inc, which main business is real estate development, leasing and marketing. At the beginning, Megaworld was marketed as a high-end residential developer of condominiums and office buildings.

It was in 1994 the company spun-off Empire East Land Holdings, Inc. and focused on the middle-income market. In that same year, Megworld went public under the stock symbol MEG. In 1996, the company started developing Eastwood City and constructed office buildings to support the growing demand of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). For its effort, Eastwood Cyberpark was designated a PEZA special economic zone, the first IT park in the Philippines to receive such distinction.

In 1999, the company was renamed Megaworld Corporation.

[edit] Controversies

[edit] Cambridge Village Licenses to SellEmpire East Land Holdings Incorporated (EELHI), a subsidiary company of Megaworld Corporation has been sanctioned by the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board in November 2011 for ignoring seventeen Notices of Violations and Orders dating from 29 October 2009 to 30 September 2011, for the following violations on just one project:[1]

Cambridge Village Phase 1

Selling additional condominium units despite failure/refusal to apply for amendment of license to sellFailure/Refusal to apply for amendment of Master Deed of RestrictionsAdvertising without clearance/approvalCambridge Village Phase 2

Failure/Refusal to secure Certificate of RegistrationSelling without License to SellFailure/Refusal to submit Master Deed and Notarized Fact Sheet as required in the Notice of Deficiency of Requirements dated 19 July 2007Unauthorised change of name (from Cambridge Village to Cambridge Fordham)Cambridge (Central Park) Village Phase 3

Selling without a License to SellAdvertising without clearance/approvalFailure/Refusal to secure a Development PermitFailure/Refusal to secure a Certificate of RegistrationUnauthorized change of project nameThe HLURB fined Empire East Land Holdings Incorporated a total of Forty-six Million Four Hundred Sixty-one Thousand Pesos (P46,461,000.00) for the above violations

[edit] Township Projects

[edit] Cambridge ScamFor so many years, Empire East (A subsidiary company of Megaworld) has been duping people into buying substandard tenements at the price of a condo. This *** has to stop. And the people should know what really goes on.

For that very expensive price of a condo, Cambridge unit owners are given tenement style homes that are substandard and doesn't adhere to the building code. Worse, the buildings are located right above an earthquake belt, and two floodgates. With 69 unit owners who were duped into buying what they thought was condominium units at Cambridge Village Condominium in Cainta, Rizal, developer Empire East Land Holdings Inc., is still selling their tenements to OFW families, foreigners with Filipina wife, and middle income families for the price of a real condo.

Empire Eastโ€™s marketing strategy is to *** and dupe the clients and show them model units from well built condos and tell the customers that in two years, or after the full payment of the condo, they will be able to get their titles.

But what title could Empire East give their clients, when the company has no proof of ownership and other groups are claiming the land? For so long, Empire East has been duping people into buying the tenement at the price of condos that are built over a dangerous earthquake belt, and over two creeks.

The Cambridge condo buildings lack drainage system, and the two creeks that run inside the area were leveled and blocked with filling materials, ten meters wide and 10 meters deep, damming the flood water during the typhoons Ondoy and Peping on September 2009.

During the typhoons Ondoy and Peping, P500 million worth of vehicles, personal belongings, and other properties of the unit owners were destroyed.

Cracks on the walls of the buildings only show how the substandard construction and materials used in the tenement style condos are slowly deteriorating. And there's no earthquake yet

The swimming pool, up to now is unsanitary because it was constructed 8 feet below the ground and there is no drainage system to siphon the dirty water out and no water system to replenish it with clean water.

And the unit owners pay for its maintenance but couldnโ€™t use it. For three years, the water was never changed and has become breeding ground for mosquitos.

The building clusters were all designed and planned for medium rise condominium,which means they are supposed to be only 4-storey high. But when Empire East saw they could make bigger money, it raised the building into 12-storey high, without strengthening the foundations of the buildings.

With only the capacity of a 4-storey building, the raised 12-storey condos are very dangerous and could collapse at the next strong earthquake of 7.5 magnitude.

Since 2005, the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board has been issuing Cease and Desist Order to Cambridge because of its dangerous and substandard buildings.

condos are not supposed to crack. but cambridge has all the cracks But instead of improving their buildings, Empire East still sell the units, targeting OFW families, Filipinas who are married to foreigners, and middle income Filipinos who were duped into buying what they thought were condos, but are really substandard tenements with cracked walls, lack drainage system, and located in a dangerous area of Cainta.

The unit owners who have been complaining and demanding that they get their money back are ignored by the government offices that are supposed to help them.

During the Arroyo Administration, Empire Eastโ€™s Chairman of the Board Andrew Tan, has been linked as a close friend of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

We are hoping that in this administration, PNoy could extend a helping hand to the unit owners who have been duped by the Empire East. We are, after all, the people, who he said were his boss.

What makes the area more dangerous now is the substandard materials used int the construction of the buildings

First and foremost our priority is to ensure that others do not get cheated as we were. There are more than 1,000 people that have been duped. All of the issues with regards to drainage, building construction, fire alarm/suppression systems not working, etc are all secondary issues. The main issue is that Empire East Land Holdings Inc. (EEHLI) has knowingly entered into contracts with buyers illegally. EEHLI was issued several Cease and Desist Orders (CDO) for Failure to obtain a License to Sell, Failure to secure a Certificate of Registration. Failure to obtain a Permit to Build and Selling without a License to Sell. The CDOโ€™s specifically read, "CEASE AND DESIST FROM FURTHER SELLING AND ADVERTISING YOUR PROJECT, CAMBRIDGE VILLAGE and from collecting monthly amortization payments from buyers until expressly permitted to to so by this office." There are 164 complainants who have already filed a case against EELHI through the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB).

This case has been ongoing for more than 2 years and it appears that the HLURB is not enforcing Presidential Decree 957 as they are empowered to. The HLURB is acting like a flock of sheep with EELHI being the wolves and some of the buyers are the sheep dogs. I say unit buyers instead of unit owners because we will never own the condos we have paid for. Since EELHI does not own the land they are building Cambridge Village on, the unit buyers will never be able to obtain a clean title for ownership. We have hit many obstacles with the local and federal government. The Cainta Fire Department has conducted fire inspections annually with the last inspection being conducted this past April. Cainta city engineers came in for an inspection and noted many building code violations as well as had the fire department come back in to address our concerns.

The engineers verbally addressed the issues with Cambridge Village administration department. The administration department is operated by First Oceanic which along with EELHI is a subsidiary company of Mega World. The fire department inspector came in and noted our concerns and also verbally addressed the issues with the administration department. There were more than 100 major discrepancies just within one building. We informed the fire department inspector that these are Life Safety issues and still no official report was submitted. We have heard rumors from solid sources that the Mayor of Cainta and the Barangay Captain were both given units within Cambridge Village.

Many buyers are refusing to pay their association dues because of the fact that EELHI knowingly entered into contracts with us illegally. The Mayor of Cainta held a meeting with our attorney and a few of the unit buyers within the past 2 weeks. When the mayor was asked what he is going to do to help us obtain our money back from EELHI he stated, I am not here for that. I am here to help Cambridge Village obtain the association dues from the unit owners. At the present time, no government agency is helping the unit buyers as they are empowered to. There is a gross negligence on the part of the HLURB for not enforcing not only Presidential Decree 957, but also for not enforcing the Philippine law as they have jurisdiction over all of these issues. The HLURB is not conducting on site inspection as they are mandated to.

Vice President Binay is overall in charge of the HLURB. When he was sent a letter from a unit buyer with regards to the issues here at Cambridge Village, he in turn sent the letter to the HLURB. President Aquino III has stated many times that he is taking a firm stance in stopping corruption in government and in the private sector as well. In our opinion this is corruption at its worst. This corruption involves not just private sector companies but also includes local and national government. Prospective buyers beware!!!! There are more than 1,000 unit buyers that have been duped already. Donโ€™t become a victim.

I do not understand how a company (Megaworld/Empire East) that has been issued so many cease and desist orders by the HLURB can be permitted to continue not only developing/building, but can also continue to cheat the good people of the Philippines out of their hard earned money. Below is a list of active cease and desist orders issued against megaworld/empire east developments and the date they were issued: 101 Newport BLVD 8/11/11, 150 New Port Blvd 10/27/10, Cambridge Village 04/26/06, 10/08/09; 07/22/11; 07/22/11; 07/22/11; 07/22/11 (That is not a typo, they had four CDO's issued for the same day) and 09/14/11, Casa Rio 06/26/07, Eight Forbes Town Road 08/20/08, Forbes Town Center 02/08/07, Greenbelt Hamilton 08/03/11, Manhattan Heights 10/19/10, One Uptown Residence 09/22/11, Pine Crest 09/06/07, Pioneer Woodlands 06/17/10, Sarasota 09/19/06, Suntrust Parkview 08/11/11, The Olympian 02/08/07, The Rochester 11/24/10, The Venice Luxury Residences 03/18/10, Three Central 05/26/11, Viceroy (MH) 08/03/11 and Xavier Hills Tower One 05/04/06. This link leads to the master list of active CDO's issued by the HLURB

[edit] Eastwood CityEastwood City, located at Quezon City, is the first PEZA designated IT park. It was the first project of Megaworld that integrated the residential, business and entertainment into one community.

[edit] Forbes Town CenterForbes Town Center is a community township project located at Bonifacio Global City, in Taguig, just adjacent the Manila Golf Club, Manila Polo Club and Forbes Park.

As of September 2011 there is a current and active Cease and Desist order dated February 8, 2007 issued by the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board prohibiting the selling/advertising of this project and prohibiting collection of monthly amortization payments from buyers for failure to obtain a Certificate of Registration (Land Ownership) and for failure to obtain a license to Sell.

[edit] McKinley HillMcKinley Hill is another community township project also located in Fort Bonifacio. The McKinley Hill Cyberpark is expected to be a PEZA-designated IT special economic zone. Several embassies including the British and Korean embassay are also located at McKinley Hill.

As of September 2011 there is a current and active Cease and Desist order dated August 3, 2011 issued by the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board prohibiting the selling/advertising of this project and prohibiting collection of monthly amortization payments from buyers for failure to obtain a Certificate of Registration (Land Ownership) and for failure to obtain a license to Sell.

[edit] Newport CityNewport City is another community township project located in Villamor Air Base, Pasay. Similar to Eastwood City, it integrated the "work-live-play" concept. A PEZA economic zone is expected to be established at Newport City. The entertainment zone Resorts World Manila is also located at Newport City.

As of September 2011 there is a current and active Cease and Desist order dated August 11, 2011 issued by the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board prohibiting the selling/advertising of this project and prohibiting collection of monthly amortization payments from buyers for failure to obtain a Certificate of Registration (Land Ownership) and for failure to obtain a license to Sell.

[edit] Manhattan Garden CityManhattan Garden City is the first transit-oriented residential development project located at Araneta Center, Cubao. The project is a transportation hub that is linked to the LRT2 and the MRT.

As of September 2011 there is a current and active Cease and Desist order dated October 19, 2010 issued by the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board prohibiting the selling/advertising of this project and prohibiting collection of monthly amortization payments from buyers for failure to obtain a Certificate of Registration (Land Ownership) and for failure to obtain a license to Sell.

[edit] CityplaceCityplace is located at the heart of Binondo, Manila. The project will consist of residential condominiums, a shopping center, BPO office space, and hotel for travellers.

[edit] Awards and Recognition

Notice that there are no current awards. They basically have not received any awards since the first Cease and Desist order was issued against them by the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board.

Megaworld Corporation was awarded Asiaโ€™s Best Property in 2003, 2004 and 2005 by Euromoney Best Asian Companies Award. It also bagged other titles from Euromoney including: Philippinesโ€™ Best in Corporate Governance, 2003; Asiaโ€™s Most Improved Companies, 2005; Asian Companies with the Most Convincing and Coherent Strategy, 2005.

In 2004, it was awarded Marketing Company of the Year by the Agora Awards. FinanceAsia also awarded Megaworld Corporation Best Managed Company and the Philippinesโ€™ Best in Investorsโ€™ Relations.

Asia Money Polls awarded the company, Best in Investors Relations, Best Website, Philippinesโ€™ Best in Clearest Corporate Strategy.

In 2007, the company continued to garner awards including the IR Magazine Best in Investor Relations in Singapore Market by a Philippine Company; Finance Asia Most Committed to Corporate Governance. It also received the Quezon City and Taguig City top taxpayer of the year awards in 2006 and 2007.

[edit] Board of Directors

As of June 18, 2010, Megaworld Corporation Board of Directors are:

Andrew L. Tan - Chairman = The biggest cheat of them all. Why do you continue to break the law Andrew Tan? Have you forgotten where it is you came from? Why do you take advantage of people and cheat people of their hard earned money? Did you know that of all of the Cease and Desist Orders (prevents Tan's companies from selling properties because they do not have a license to sell) that were issued by the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board, that Tan's companies account for roughly 10% of them? If you watch the second web link video below, you will see the story that was aired by Aksyon News 5. The story tells of the illegal selling at Cambridge Village in Cainta.Katherine L. TanKingson U. SianEnrique Santos L. SyMiguel B. Varela - Independent DirectorGerardo C. Garcia - Independent DirectorRoberto S. Guevara - Independent Director[edit] External links

List of Active Cease and Desist Orders Issued by the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board The CDO's read that it is illegal for Megaworld to sell/advertise and collect monthly ammoritizations from buyersNews story concerning a Megaworld/empire East PropertyMegaworld Corporation 2009 annual report. This report is a lie. Megaworld is not properly releasing information to its shareholders. This has been reported to the SECAlliance Global Group 2009 annual report. This report is a lie. Megaworld is not properly releasing information to its shareholders. This has been reported to the SEC[edit] Citation

Original content from WikiPilipinas. under GNU Free Documentation License. See full disclaimer.

Categories: Companies listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange | Real estate companies | Publicly-listed companies | Companies owned by Andrew Tan | Real Estate

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Guest

That's why Andrew tan "turned over" over the reins of the corporation to another. New CEO is Lourdes Gutierrez Alfonso who used to be CFO. Lgutierrez@***.com

Guest

OMG!!!! How can this be??

My property is in here too. What do I do now?

They got my money already!!

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-681409

Just wondering about your investment with mega world. I read your comment.

Im being encouraged to invest now.

Sept 2015. I see ur post was dated 2013.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1033398

Don't deal with Megaworld. As of Nov 2015 they have poor customer service, unfair contracts.

They are quick to collect payments but slow to turn over - 1 year late.

Poor quality unit (A), misleading sales info, etc. Stay away!

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1033398

My unit is at The Venice, Taguig City, Metro Manila.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1033398

Wow!!! Why I didn't see these reviews before I bought!

I thought a prominent company as Megaworld is reliable, the reason why I bought. I'm having the same problems as other people here, with my unit right now. It's suppose to be turned over in Dec 2014, but it got delayed to Dec 2015. Upon inspection on April 2016, they had supposed punchlist of repairs to be done.

Our 2nd inspection on Sept 2016, still have some other punchlists not done & never got any updates of completion until this day Jan 2017. I tried to email their people but no response. All of a sudden, I got a bill for Association dues for the last 6 months & we haven't signed any turnover yet! So aggravating!

Nobody will help you, all they want is money, not to mention, I bought my unit spot cash.

Now, I'm going to write all of the head people working at Megaworld about my issue. I hope somebody will listen & do something about my issue.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1277527

I have purchased 2 condo properties. One in Mckinley Viceroy and One Uptown in Uptown Bonifacio.

The second one was paid in cash. The turn over was scheduled mid 2017 but construction is still ongoing. Viceroy has started turn over. I believe mine will be third quarter this year.

My worries are similar to everyone. Why my property consultant never did mention them to me. This issue was 2013 and i do hope that all is well now as it is 2017. Reading this article clearly makes me change my beliefs that megaworld is a very reputable company.

So Mr Tan is no longer the CEO?

What happens to us then having all these disputes. I have encouraged many friends and relatives to invest but i should not anymore

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