Popular not always right

President Benigno Aquino III may be a popular chief executive, but let it not be said that he shies away from unpopular decisions.

For example, Malacañang recently announced Oct. 31 as a regular working holiday to the dismay of those hoping for a three-day weekend to commemorate All Soul’s Day.

His predecessor Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, with her “holiday economics,” would have done just that. But Pnoy prefers not to disrupt the economy and observe holidays on their proper dates.

Sure, it makes him the ultimate ‘killjoy.’ But a president’s got to do what he’s got to do - even if it’s unpopular.

His recent statements regarding his inclination towards re-bidding the Cavite-Laguna Expressway (CALAX) project seems like another “unpopular” move.  That is, if you ask business groups such as the Makati Business Club, American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham), Australian-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce Philippines (ANZCham), Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (CanCham), Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP), Japanese Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (JCCIPI), and the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP).

The group, led by the Makati Business Club, recently came out with a collective statement against a possible re-bidding of the project. It will be recalled that conglomerate San Miguel Corp. was disqualified from the bidding because of a typographical error in its bid security. The project was awarded to the Ayala-Aboitiz consortium, which submitted an P11-billion bid. But as it turned out, SMC’s bid was P20 billion. The case is now under appeal in Malacañang.

The gist of the business groups’ statement is that a CALAX rebidding will erode investor confidence in the country. Sounds like a sound argument.

Unfortunately, investor confidence is not the only consideration in this issue, and obviously, Pnoy sees this.

The government needs the money to provide basic social services. That’s the whole point of bidding out government projects—for government to get the best deal and benefit from projects that are better managed by the private entities—who in turn stand to reap profits from such projects.

In any currency and language, P8 billion is a huge difference. While the business groups can claim that investor confidence is of utmost importance, the President is also more than justified to consider the other benefits to the public of the additional P8 billion in funds—which will come in the form of education, housing, or poverty alleviation programs.

Not to mention, if San Miguel values the project at P20 billion, then it’s quite reasonable to assume that that higher amount could be used as the new baseline.

Which makes one think: Would other groups still be willing to match or go beyond San Miguel’s P20 billion if a fresh round of bidding is done?

Foreign investors have long complained about the difficulty of doing business in the country. They persistently complain about the red tape, the corruption and an uneven playing field that are perhaps the reasons why they are not too enthusiastic about doing business here.

The contract has not been officially awarded yet, as Malacanang has yet to decide on a complaint filed by the ‘highest’ but disqualified bidder.  Malacanang wants to address all issues related to this project before it even gets off the ground. The way I see it, the Palace, through P-Noy is trying to make things right.

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