Forced against the wall, the man might decide to also take down with him some very high and mighty persons. To use a phrase in mobster movies, the man knows with absolute certainty where the bodies (or, in this case, the oodles of money) are buried.
Whoever heads the Clark-based airport will be getting $200 million by early next year at the latest. That is the amount of money that the Japan Bank for International Cooperation is expected to release from the concessional Obuchi Fund for the improvement of the airport.
For one thing, that airport badly needs a radar. (The US Air Force either took the radar equipment or it got lost when they left). For another, the runway has to be readjusted for commercial rather than military aircraft.
The airport is, of course, one of three infrastructure projects that will make the Clark-Subic-Hacienda Luisita (which is, of course, owned by the family of former President Aquino) the country’s newest and, hopefully, most successful economic corridor.
The other two projects involve the upgrading of the port in Subic, estimated to cost $200 million, and the expressway connecting the three economic zones, estimated to cost $400 million. The first drawdown is expected to be later this year, when actual construction starts.
The new growth triangle is, of course, good news to the Lopez-controlled Metro Manila North Tollways Corp., which is required to build the missionary spur from Subic to San Simon in Pangasinan as part of its highly lucrative contract. Obviously, that will no longer have to be built.
GMA Network, which paid its employees a 3.5-month bonus on top of the 13th month last year, has been doing well, thank you, in the first five months, of the year. It grossed P2.4 billion from January to May this year of 77 percent higher than revenues generated in the first five months of 2002.
And that’s before a planned increase in advertising rates next month.