EEI advanced P400M before Dennis Uy’s casino deal collapsed

Insider Spotlight

• EEI advanced P400 million as it pursued a deal to help complete Dennis Uy’s Emerald Bay casino project. 
• PH Resorts used the advances partly for Chinabank lease and interest payments before losing the Cebu property and its casino license.
• EEI sought a refund from PH Resorts, but the latest filing leaves unclear how much of the money it can recover.

The Yuchengco family’s EEI Corp. put P400 million into a potential rescue of Davao-based tycoon Dennis Uy’s Emerald Bay casino project in Cebu before the deal ultimately fell apart.

New PH Resorts Group Holdings Inc. filings show the construction giant advanced the money for the stalled integrated casino sitting on beachfront land in Mactan Island. 

The proposed rescue collapsed after PH Resorts lost the Emerald Bay property to China Banking Corp. while the state-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) revoked the project’s provisional casino license.

“Accordingly, the partnership discussions with EEI for the completion of the project have not ripened to the execution of definitive agreements,” PH Resorts said in its latest quarterly report, which was released on Monday. 

“Thus, considering the aforementioned decision of the Pagcor board, the partnership with EEI will no longer push through,” it added.

Dennis A. Uy 

PH Resorts chair

Another white knight rides away?

EEI entered talks with PH Resorts in December 2024 to potentially finance, construct and complete the unfinished integrated resort on a 12.4-hectare beachfront property in Mactan, Cebu.

It followed failed investment talks with Enrique Razon Jr.’s Bloomberry Resorts Corp., the Manigsaca family’s AppleOne Properties and the Okada Group behind Okada Manila.

Some of those attempts still brought cash into PH Resorts: the Okada Group advanced P327.6 million, which was nonrefundable, while Razon’s P1 billion advance was returned nearly three years after their deal failed.

EEI’s real estate push

The talks came as EEI was expanding beyond construction into real estate development, then partly backed by RYM Business Management Corp., which is closely linked to former House speaker Martin Romualdez.

RYM later sold its stake in a management-led buyout headed by EEI president and CEO Henry Antonio.

EEI has since agreed to buy First Orient International Ventures Corp. for P2.8 billion, giving it about 49 hectares in Cavite, including the former Island Cove property near Kawit.

Key numbers

• PH Resorts had just P16.1 million in cash as of June 2026.
• Total liabilities stood at P8.74 billion, more than three times its P2.79 billion in assets.
• Its capital deficiency widened to P5.95 billion from P5.87 billion at end-2025.
• PH Resorts posted a P80.7-million net loss in the first half of 2026, sharply narrower than the P6.75-billion loss a year earlier.

What now?

The latest filings show EEI advanced P100 million through Udenna in 2024 and another P300 million in January 2025, bringing the total to P400 million.

The was used pay lease and interest obligations to Chinabank before it ultimately lost the P13.65-billion Emerald Bay property, the regulatory filing showed. 

InsiderPH previously reported that EEI began seeking a refund last year. With Emerald Bay now stripped of both its property and casino license, the question is no longer whether EEI will invest, but how much of money it can get back.