Lopez to investors: Place bets on RP

Lopez Group chairman Oscar M. Lopez urged investors yesterday to "place all (their) bets" on the Philippines so as to reap economic rewards in the future.

Speaking at the Third FOCAP Conference on Prospects for the Philippines, Lopez said the group's almost exclusive investments in the country was part of a business strategy that was developed through three generations.

Lopez expressed confidence about the medium and long term prospects of the Philippine economy, citing huge supply gaps in public services. "In our areas of interest -- power, tollways, water, telecommunications -- the private sector is expected to contribute at least $15 billion of investments up to 2004," Lopez said.

He urged local businesses to "discard parochial interests and technological backwardness" to keep pace with the world. "With the end of the era of monopolies, natural or not, we know only too well that our continued stay in any of these businesses depend on performance and the quality of our services. The public -- our customers -- and the regulatory agencies will ultimately judge us by these criteria," he explained.

Referring to the proposed privatization of the assets of the National Power Corp., Lopez expressed hope the omnibus electricity bill will provide a level playing field between Filipino and foreign companies bidding for the Napocor assets. "It would be unfortunate and ironic if Filipinos with proven track records in the power business are disqualified from further participation in that business in their own country, not through force of competition but by operation of law," he said.

Lopez also lauded President Estrada} s decision to temporarily halt the campaign for constitutional changes calling it "no big setback" in the task of building up the economy. "In dropping the nationally divisive proposal, the President has effectively refocused the nation's energies on fostering economic growth," Lopez said.

The Lopez Group has over a dozen foreign equity and technical foreign partners in its various businesses. Among them are British Gas in power generation, Union Fenosa of Spain in electricity distribution, Egis Projects of France in tollways, Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux in water, Bell Atlantic of the US in telecom and Sumitomo Corp. of Japan in property development.