A lot of good news for the Filipino people

We’ve been having too much politics these days especially with regards the fate of Supreme Court Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno. However, I came upon with this article the other day which blared “Aboitiz Group Submits P148 Billion unsolicited proposal to modernize 4 Regional Airports.” What can we say, but it’s about time that a major business conglomerate with a very good track record in business gets into the running and managing of four regional airports; the Iloilo International Airport, the Bacolod-Silay Airport, the LaguindinganAirport between Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City, and the up-and-coming Bohol International Airport.

Right now, the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) is being run by a foreign consortium led by GMRMegawide and we hope they will open the new terminal soon. That GMR-Megawide was able to vastly improve the airport facilities in Mactan is proof that a private sector company can run things better than the government. I should know, I was a private sector director in MCIA Authority and there are just too many limitations for the government to manage an airport, while the private sector can do many things the government can’t do.

The Aboitiz group said that the pooling of resources would “unlock synergies” that would benefit stakeholders and the government. Not only will none of the airports require any form of subsidy, the combined potential of the four regional gateways results in overall gains for both the government and the local economy. I totally agree that these regional airports can greatly benefit from the professionalism of Aboitiz management systems.

If this project is awarded this year, Aboitiz InfraCapital said it could start work next year, with major upgrades and capacity expansions seen completed in 2021. Incidentally, the Aboitiz Equity Ventures is also part of the “super consortium” that submitted a P350-billion unsolicited proposal to rehabilitate the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. So the big question is will the Department of Transportation award this unsolicited proposal to the local boys represented by the Aboitiz Group?

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Still more good news for Filipinos. They just published a recent survey recently published by US News & World Report that ranked the Philippines the best country globally “to invest in now” and the 11th best country in which to start a business. A report like this would have sounded preposterous five years ago! How things have changed under the Duterte administration, despite the negatives propagated by the opposition groups linked to the unlamented Yellow regime.

The US News & World Report survey evaluated 80 countries for that study. Joining the Philippines in the Top 10 were four other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations -Indonesia, 2nd; Malaysia, 4th; Singapore, 5th, and Thailand, 8th. Another ASEAN member, Vietnam, placed 23rd. In short, Southeast Asia swept the board.

In its overview of the Philippines, US News said this: “The land of beautiful beaches and abundant biodiversity has long been plagued by political instability, but its resilient economy continues to improve and push ahead of others in the region”. Mind you, this is a very credible survey done by a very credible American magazine and Filipinos should be proud that we are no longer ignored when it comes to investments for the Philippines.

Mind you, this survey was conducted last year when the Philippines suffered that five-month long battle for the City of Marawi where the Maute-ISIS terrorists tried to establish a caliphate in the Southern Philippines. Because of that incident, martial law was declared in Mindanao, which is still very much in place today. Then there’s the failure of the peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines which meant that the countryside was once more turned into a battle area by the New People’s Army terror group. This is not to mention that we are still in the midst of fighting the war against drugs.

It is for this reason that the survey ratings of Pres. Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte are astronomically high. He is waging a war not just against illegal drugs, but also fighting the poverty of Filipinos and above all, his fight against corruption is not through slogans like “Daang Matuwid” but real programs where we must help him rid our nation of the corrupt and the damned.

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For email responses to this article, write to vsbobita@gmail.com. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.