Cebu airport’s 7 bidders: Who can woo more tourists, airlines and investors?
Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage.
Ñ Niccolo Machiavelli
The process of public bidding for the P17.5-billion rehabilitation and expansion of the countrys second most important airport the Mactan-Cebu International Airport is already in the homestretch. Who will win? This is important to the country's global prestige. For many years we've been lambasted for our mediocre airports, which are the Þrst and last places tourists and foreign investors experience of the Philippines. Whose bid will be best for our economy in terms of welcoming more tourists and international airlines, more foreign investors and better operational efficiency?
Many top businessmen and foreign investors Ive talked to hope that technical prowess and long-term strategic economic impact on the Philippines should be the biggest considerations, not just the magnitude of any cash bid offer.
The seven groups of Filipino and foreign Þrms bidding for the Cebu project include three of the worldÕs top 10 best airports based on the 2013 Skytrax survey and awards:
¥ Filinvest of the Gotianun family and the worldÕs No. 1 best airport operator, Changi Airports Mena Pte Ltd of Singapore.
¥ San Miguel Corp. led by Ramon Ang and the Lucio Tan group (joint venture), and the worldÕs No. 2 best airport, Incheon Airport International Corp. of South Korea.
¥ Henry Sy's Premier Airport Group and the worldÕs No. 7 best airport, Zurich Airport International AG of Switzerland.
¥ Metro PaciÞc Investments Corp. (MPIC), led by Manny V. Pangilinan and JG Summit Holdings, Inc. of John Gokongwei Jr. (joint venture), with Aeroports de Lyon, the fourth busiest airport in France next to Charles de Gaulle, Orly and Nice.
¥ AAA Airport Partners (a joint venture between the Zobel family's Ayala Land and the Aboitiz clan's Aboitiz Equity Ventures), with ADC & HAS Airports, Inc. of the US, which operates airports in Ecuador, Costa Rica, Liberia in Africa and South Korea's Chungcheong Northern province.
¥ First Philippine Airports (consortium of Lopez-led First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPHC) and Infratil Asia Ltd of New Zealand.
¥ Megawide Construction Corp. and GMR Infrastructure Limited of India (joint venture).
The winning bidder for this build-operate-transfer (BOT) project will be granted a 20-year concession.
REFORM OUR POLICIES ON FOREIGN INVESTORS & LABOR
Many business organizations Ive talked to support Speaker Feliciano Sonny Belmonte Jr. in seeking decisive Charter change on the restrictive economic provisions of the Philippine constitution, which is one of the major obstacles to the much-needed inflow of foreign direct investments (FDI) into our economy for more jobs.
Why not also overhaul our labor laws so that local entrepreneurs and foreign investors will not be frightened of hiring more employees and expanding businesses? In the Philippines we have a labor policy that is more communistic than those in ostensibly communist China or the most liberal USA. In both the US and China, businesses can fire any employee without the need for justifying the reasons as long as the terminated employees are given fair monetary compensation for every year of service, but not here.
Philippine STAR columnist Boo Chanco wrote that on June 19, former president of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Francis Estrada spoke before the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines ( FINEX). Foreign direct investments $2.8 billion in 2012 and growing at an average annual rate of