John Hay tantrums

Our coffee shop habitue friends have another naughty joke these days.

How does one avoid paying billions of pesos in debts, they ask. Answer: By going on a tantrum.

The joke, of course, refers to how the public perceives today the overall strategy of the Fil-Estate group’s Camp John Hay Development Corp. or CJHDevCo in dealing with the issue of its P2.2 billion in rental arrears which it owes the Bases Conversion and Development Authority.

Our caffeine-guzzling friends point out that almost a month since the story on the CJHDevCo’s P2.2-billion arrears became very public, Bob Sobrepeña’s group has not given any indication on how and when the Fil-Estate-backed consortium intends to settle the debt. A very huge debt.

So far, our gang of espresso connoisseurs point out that all that Bob’s group has done is go on tantrums. Tantrum one: Government cannot make us pay because of a Supreme Court ruling on tax incentives. Tantrum two: We will sue government. Tantrum three: We will rescind contract. Tantrum four: A government take-over is illegal.

All plain tantrums. No assurances that it can, and will, pay up.

The Fil-Estate group strategy on its John Hay debts is classic PR textbook approach. The book says never go on the defensive; stay on the offensive. And the only way to stay on the offensive is to evade, avoid, dodge the issue on whether or not the group will, or can, pay the P2.2-billion arrears. And the only offensive left is to go on tantrums, the way a kid who is about to lose his lollipop would do.

The tantrums are understandable, except that the people of Baguio may be losing their patience. Already, the Baguio City Council is threatening to conduct a full-dressed investigation on the John Hay debt row. We don’t know if the Baguio dads will accept tantrums; I believe they would want facts. And indications of ability and willingness to pay.

The reason for the impatience is obvious: some P300 million of Baguio’s development funds are locked up in the Fil-Estate group debt. If Bob says he won’t pay, Baguio loses the chance to rehabilitate its water works and eradicate the dreaded meningococcemia. They need the money locked up in the Fil-Estate group debt to do those.

Lately, the Fil-Estate group tantrums are taking an ugly turn. We learned that the group is now employing scare tactics. The group’s drumbeaters are saying that the conflict in John Hay could cost camp employees their jobs and affect the local economy.

Well, the people of Baguio are saying, excuse me, but their inability to access their P300 million because the Fil-Estate group won’t pay up is bad enough for the local economy. Again, the classic Fil-Estate group dodge. When do we hear Bob saying this is how we will pay up and this is our time table?

The tantrums and the scare campaign may appear to be a lot of fun to Bob’s PR team. But some solons are not laughing. Already, Senator Alfredo Lim, champion of the victims of the College Assurance Plan brouhaha, is pressuring the Bases Conversion and Development Authority to take over John Hay from the Fil-Estate group. Congressman Crispin ‘Boying’ Remulla has joined the angry chorus and revealed that the Fil-Estate group had earlier asked to be absolved from some P650 million in arrears during the Estrada presidency. This was, of course, thumbed down by Boying himself when he was assigned to review it under the Presidential Management Staff.

So far, the most stinging rebuke has come from the Senate Minority Floor Leader, himself, Senator Aquilino Pimentel. At the recent media Kapihan at Sulo Hotel, Senator Pimentel, the feisty solon from Cagayan de Oro, asked about the Fil-Estate group’s John Hay debt, said the people responsible for the situation must be sued, and if they continue to refuse to pay up, must be locked up. Senator Pimentel likened the ideal government move to what the United States government did to the officers of Enron. They were arrested and handcuffed, the Senator said.

Our gang of cappuccino consumers predict that the tantrum strategy will reach its peak through some people power of sorts to prevent a possible government take over of the facility. They said it is possible that the psychological climate is already being prepared for the setting up of barricades to ward off an imaginary threat to the tenant of John Hay.

We hope our coffee shop kibitzers are wrong this time. We hope the observation will remain unfounded. If the Fil-Estate tantrums take on this form, the collateral damage would just be too much. In the meantime, the Sobrepeña consortium is best advised to do just one thing: tell everyone of they can pay and when they intend to do so.

That is the best way to make government look stupid: the prove BCDA wrong by coming up with a post-dated check with the amount of P2.2 billion written on it.

Would that be asking for the moon?

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