Four deal breakers threaten a twin gateway to Manila International Airport. So mishaps at the country’s premiere airport will always worsen into days-long flight disruptions, like the recent stalled jumbo by the runway.
The four are last-minute impositions of the Dept. of Finance on San Miguel Holdings Corp.’s planned airport in Bulacan. Those could scare away creditors, and kill the idea of an alternative to the congested MIA.
Belatedly relayed to SMHC four months after it was told to detail its $15-billion (P750-billion) proposal are:
(1) Waiver of payment in case government fails on commitments. It is standard for government justly to recompense the contractor for broken promises, like clearances and permits. So long as obligations are legal, government must comply or else pay damages. It is natural in all deals. Yet SMHC is being asked to drop its right.
(2) Waiver of recompense in case of change of laws. Similarly, contractors are entitled to recompense in case new game rules are set that drastically alter the project viability. Yet SMHC is being made to forgo its options.
(3) No rights-of-way. Government usually expropriates private land for public use, so long as justly compensated. In this case, SMHC is willing to pay for land that would be needed for access roads to the planned airport. Yet the DoF does not want to expropriate any land for use in the airport works.
(4) Drop any plans at the MIA while the Bulacan facility is being built. Part of SMHC’s proposal is to improve MIA aviation equipment, runways, and terminals preparatory to complementing by the Bulacan gateway. But the DoF wants to give such operations instead to seven taipans.
SMHC is asking the DoF to take back the impositions. Otherwise, its four runways and modern terminal for 100 million yearly passengers will be unprofitable. It will just turn the 2,500-hectare property into a new commercial center in Bulacan province north of Manila.
MIA would end up with no alternative gateway, which is a must for megalopolises.
The provincial government of Cavite, with private developers, is offering to expand old Sangley air-naval base to the south. But it is legally debarred to borrow even just a portion of the $20 billion needed to reclaim land from the sea and build airport facilities.
An earlier plan was for Clark International Airport, farther north, to serve as MIA’s twin gateway. But it has room only for a dozen jumbos at its terminal.
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If they do not abide by the President’s clear word that he wants no more new casinos, then that’s their lookout. They better get an interpreter so they can understand.
That was the reaction of presidential spokesman Harry Roque to the full-page advertorial in all broadsheets last Monday by Chinese casino operator Landing Group.
In the ads Landing insisted on legality and validity of its lease of 9.56-hectare government prime property fronting Manila Bay for a resort casino. Quoting the chairwoman of government-run Nayong Pilipino Foundation that owns the property, Landing sought to debunk so-called “opponents and critics” of the lease.
“Opponents/critics” happens to be none other than President Rodrigo Duterte, who fired the entire Nayong Pilipino board and management. Thus, Roque’s stern words in an interview by Ted Failon on DZMM Teleradyo.
Duterte has described the lease as “grossly disadvantageous” for its 75-year duration – “longer than the lifetime of anybody.” He ordered it reviewed by the justice department for being “flawed.”
Before that, state auditors had red-flagged the lease, only P150 per square meter. They said that Nayong Pilipino did not appraise adjacent land values, solicit competitive offers, and secure NEDA approval for closed-door negotiation instead of public bidding. A Nayong Pilipino trustee has charged her fellows with graft. Allegedly, with nearby lease rates at P500 per square meter, the government would lose P25.85 billion. As well, that the trustees junketed all-expenses-paid to Landing’s resort casino in Jeju, Korea.
Nayong Pilipino tried to “cure” the lease by raising it to P360 per square meter and shortening to 25 years. Still the legal requirements were unfulfilled.
Landing chairman Yang Zhihui was arrested in Cambodia and deported to China last week. Reportedly he was wanted for bribery and shady loans from a state-run agency, whose head and other favored borrowers also are in jail.
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Nayong Pilipino’s aim in leasing its estate to Landing supposedly is to promote Filipino culture and heritage. The Chinese casino investor is to build a theme park, a water park, and a movie-based park in a resort casino to be called “Nayon/Landing.”
Critics note that, except for the Tagalog word “nayon” (village), nothing in the name denotes Filipinism. “Landing” sounds English, but actually is the Chinese name of Yang’s property investment firm born in Anhui province and later listed in Hong Kong.
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Sigma Kappa Pi celebrates its 50th anniversary on Saturday, Sept. 1. The nontraditional fraternity promotes nationalism and service to community. Brothers will hold the traditional wreath-laying at the Bonifacio statue, Vinzon’s Hall, University of the Philippines-Diliman, followed by a grand homecoming reunion at 6 p.m. at the Bahay ng Alumni.
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Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., DWIZ (882-AM).
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