Delaying the inevitable

I recently learned that San Miguel Corp. CEO Ramon S. Ang called for a press briefing with members of the Bulacan media. There, he presented satellite images, video footage, maps and the like.

All this in an effort to disprove claims being spread by unknown Facebook accounts in the province that flooding there is caused by the New Manila International Airport (NMIA) project.

“Not long after the media attendees’ stories were filed and posted, what followed bore some of the hallmarks of a coordinated online activity: locked profiles churning out comment after comment disparaging Ang and the airport – with the same comments making it to the comments section of multiple media outlets.”

I am reminded of the words of Thomas Aquinas who pointed out:  “To those who believe, no explanation is necessary. To those who do not believe, no explanation is possible.”

Ramon Ang has, time and again, gone out of his way to be transparent about the airport project to the point that he personally engages the media and the public to update or clarify matters of concern and interest.

But I agree with the position of St. Thomas Aquinas that no amount of explanation is enough to convince not only critics but especially those who are part of a sinister and well-financed group organized for the sole purpose of destabilizing and delaying the SMC-NMIA by preying on the emotions of Bulakeños by blaming the airport for flooding.

I looked back on the history or early stage of the proposed SMC Bulacan airport and remembered that the project was actively blocked by certain individuals in government.

They were deeply invested in the New Clark City Airport as well as businesses with in the Clark development project that they wanted Clark Airport to have exclusive control of aviation in the region.

Another group wanted to protect the economic growth of Pampanga instead of allowing Bulacan to build up its own economic hub, a proposed legislation in support of this, which was killed at the Office of the President as PBBM’s first veto.

Then there were those who wanted to preserve and protect the old NAIA which was their gold mine. Another group was even pushing for Sangley as an alternative for domestic flights instead of NAIA.

Come to think of it, many infrastructure projects of SMC as well as aviation-related endeavors have all been subjected to “generated opposition” or technical delay or sabotage starting with the expressways, trains, airline, the New NAIA and now the New Manila International Airport.

To their credit, SMC has kept going as it has done in the past. RSA often says “this too shall pass” or “lilipas din yan.” One time I heard him say “Hindi na ba kayo na sanay?”

Every undertaking of San Miguel Corporation has been completed, operating and, more importantly, beneficial to Filipinos on land and in the air.

The expressway projects are ongoing concerns that have expanded in lanes, volume and length. The Skyway keeps going further and better, and now the Star Toll is well on its way to operating in Quezon province and soon to Bicol province.

Under RSA’s leadership, PAL transformed into a viable undertaking to the point that the previous owners bought back the company.

When SMC won the bid to rehabilitate and develop NAIA, SMC was once again subjected to “created” negative publicity and disinformation. It became evident that there were sore losers who could not accept the SMC takeover.

There were also several aviation-related companies and investors that were unwilling to give up their advantageous rentals within NAIA and of course, with the SMC management came the clean-up related to corruption.

Today, critics claim that the New Manila International Airport project supposedly “blocked” river outflows to Manila Bay, causing water to backflow and flood wider areas across the province. They even use “inventive” AI graphic work to fool and mislead the public and Bulakenyos in particular that their worsening flooding is caused by a single project.

Without needing to, SMC addressed flooding in the areas in Bulacan near the airport. The rivers that were supposedly blocked, three of them actually – the Santa Maria River, Meycauayan River and Taliptip (Alipit) River that surround the airport site – were actually widened and deepened, just like SMC has done in their river clean up in Metro Manila. What SMC did was essentially increase the rivers’ flood-carrying capacities and rate of discharge out to Manila Bay.

People may not know it but in the early stages of the project, San Miguel Corporation called on global experts to study the proposed site and provide engineering solutions.

These global experts were: Danish Hydraulic Institute (DHI), an engineering, research and technology firm specializing in water environments; UK-based Mott MacDonald, experts in coastal and marine engineering, and Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. of the Netherlands, experts in marine infrastructure.

The engineering evaluation and services of such global firms became the stamp of approval that green lighted funding within SMC as well as European banks and regional investors who also conduct their own due diligence and sustainability assessments.

We could go on discussing or arguing the merits or demerits of the Bulacan Airport or New Manila International Airport project. But to what end when we know that the alleged opposition is manufactured by vested interest groups?

Do we want to be deprived of or denied world class infrastructure that brings economic growth annd allow the terrorism of the insignificant few to once again delay the inevitable?

No one is going to build our nation but ourselves.