Why did Ramon Ang attend PNoy's wake?

Of the country’s tycoons, Ramon “RSA” Ang, president and CEO of San Miguel Corp., would perhaps be the last person you would expect to see at the wake of former president Benigno Aquino III.

After all, during PNoy’s term, SMC did not win a single infrastructure project from the former president’s much-touted Public-Private Partnership (PPP) infrastructure program.

The only project SMC almost won – only to lose it totally – was the P35.4-billion Cavite Laguna Expressway (CALAX), a toll road PPP deal.

Initially, SMC submitted the highest bid, but the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) disqualified the P20.1-billion offer of SMC’s Optimal Infrastructure Development, Inc. after its P355 million bid security was found four days short of the 180-day requirement.

This, even after its issuing bank, ANZ, clarified the matter and certified that the bid security was valid.

In the end, the Aquino administration opted to rebid the CALAX project, which eventually went to the MVP Group.

But RSA said he did not take this against the former president. In fact, he said, he and PNoy continued to communicate and see each other, even long after the latter’s presidency ended in 2016.

It was the same with other former presidents, he said – Fidel V. Ramos, Joseph Estrada, and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

He sent PNoy the usual greetings and gifts during special occasions such as Christmas, birthdays, and holidays.

When PNoy started getting sick, RSA also made sure to send food to the former president’s home on Times street as a gesture of support.

“I knew he was sick,” RSA told me.

Thus, it was RSA who surprisingly showed up at PNoy’s wake while many of the other tycoons — including those who bagged big-ticket projects during the former president’s term — were noticeably absent.

Megaworld’s Andrew Tan and his son Kevin showed up, too, but for the rest of the business community, some were on holidays abroad or on local trips, I heard.

Political climate

But there’s another reason. Some were afraid to be seen at PNoy’s wake.

At least one businessman told me that it was “safer” not to go considering the prevailing political climate. They did not want to openly show their support to the Aquinos for fear of backlash or intimidation from the powers-that-be.

“Patay ‘pag makita kami doon. Sadly, ganyan katakot mga ibang negosyante ngayon. (We’re doomed if we are seen there. That’s how scared some businessmen are these days),” the businessman told me.

Asked about this, RSA said there was nothing to fear, really.

At the end of the day, he said, “it’s all about paying respects to a former Philippine president.”

Spotted with James Yap

RSA was spotted with basketball star James Yap. A photo of the two gentlemen standing by the entrance of the Church of the Gesu easily caught the attention of observers from both showbiz and business circles.

The tycoon didn’t even want to call attention to himself. “I even opted not to take communion.” He was simply there to pay his last respects because it was the right thing to do, he said.

To showbiz insiders, James Yap was the curious case, showing up at his ex-brother-in-law’s wake despite strained relations with his ex-wife and PNoy’s sister Kris,  and even if he could not even get near his son Bimby.

But for those in the business community, it was RSA’s presence that was surprising.

For RSA, there really shouldn’t be anything surprising about paying respects to a former president no matter how your company fared during his or her term.

He isn’t surprised some people opted not to show up.  He lamented that others simply forget a person when he or she is no longer in power.

“That’s how you separate the men from the boys,” he said in jest.

Philippine showbiz’s Lolit Solis would surely agree. She, too, commended James Yap for showing up at PNoy’s wake.

“What a man. A real man. Salute, James Yap,” Lolit Solis said in a post on her Instagram account.

The same could be said of RSA as well.

Iris Gonzales’ email address is [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at eyesgonzales.com