‘Lucky’ Liongson seems headed to multimillions!

No sooner had the GMA Government established one of its most powerful energy offices, the brand-new "Transmission Mono-poly", than Finance Secretary Jose Isidro "Lito" Camacho began pushing for the "privatization" of this vital agency. Why? Camacho’s argument is that this is a very attractive commodity in the eyes of investment bankers. But, of course, it is: Whoever owns and controls this transmission "monopoly" will have every power generating company completely at his mercy!

How so? A firm may have the most efficient and modern power-generating plant operating, but every megawatt it is capable of producing cannot be sold unless the Transmission Monopoly agrees to "connect" the plant to the national grid. In short, without the connecting lines, that power-generating plant is useless.

Any tycoon or private monopolist "owning" the Transmission Monopoly can force operators (even the Meralco and the Lopezes – unless the Lopezes manage to "buy" the Transmission Monopoly themselves) to grovel, and shell out the sums demanded of them by the monopoly’s owner. Jesus Christ! Of course, the investment bankers want it. They can auction it off to the highest bidder at a fat and juicy profit.

Secretary Camacho, who already got "burned" in the PEACe Bond "Code-NGO" controversy, should drop the entire idea of peddling and "privatizing" the government Transmission Monopoly. If any financial buccaneer or business swashbuckler gets hold of it (meaning any "shark" at all – as they all are, it appears, in the power game), the cost of electricity to the already angry and over-burdened consumers will become prohibitive. For the bottom line for every private businessman (that’s why they’re often called "privateers") is big bucks in profit. And, although she’s already scolded Norberto Gonzales for revealing what wasn’t a secret, that would capsize his boss President Macapagal-Arroyo’s 2004 reelection bid.

No, sir. The government must forever control the power Transmission Company, in order to protect the interests of the long-suffering consuming public. For the citizens, in their indignation, can always throw out the government that betrays them in the next election. They won’t be able to cope, on the other hand, with a business pirate who can buy judges and politicians and hedge himself from retaliation by fielding a battalion of pricey lawyers.

It is in the national interest that the Transmission Monopoly must be kept out of greedy hands. So, stop, please, Secretary Camacho! You’re no longer a banker: You’re a public servant.

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A week ago, when I wrote about the mysterious fellow who’s getting a fantastic $200,000 per month consultation fee (plus another "One Time Mobilization Fee" of $200,000) – a gent named Alfonso S. Liongson – everybody exclaimed, "Wow!"

Here’s more "wow":

I got hold of several documents following Mr. Liongson’s Consulting Agreement (with the Philippine International Air Terminals Co., Inc. or PIATCO) – the consortium supposed to construct and operate that "hot potato", the airport’s Terminal 3. Pursuant to the Consultant Agreement dated 22 June 2001, Liongson last year (payment due 5 June 2001) billed PIATCO for US$1 million. He even gave instructions to remit the full invoice amount to his HSBC bank account.

Subsequently, he wrote Mr. Cheng Yong, the president of PIATCO (the patriarch of the Cheng family which "controls" the Terminal 3 enterprise), on July 2, 2001, that "we have already achieved two of the most important milestones". Since it is presumed that Mr. Liongson is supposed to get a "success fee" of $200,000 per milestone, then he must already have more than a million dollars tucked into his old kit bag.

My insiders tell me that the fascinating amount of US$7.2 million has already been "set aside" for such payments up to July 2003. Payments to Liongson have, in fact, been inserted into the current and future budgets at the rate of at least $1.5 million per annum, "with adjustments upwards" for the next 25 years. Sanamagan. I wish somebody would guarantee me that I would go on living for the next 25 years, even if I weren’t being paid $1.5 million yearly.

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I can only observe that construction on Terminal 3 has ground to a halt – and surmise that the consortium is beginning to run out of money. And why not? Its biggest funder, the Frankfurt Airport Authority or Fraport AG has, in panic, turned off the financial spigot. Fraport AG has already sunk the equivalent of 300 million euros into the Terminal 3 project in interim financing and interim bank guarantees. It has no prospect of getting its money back. There is angst and consternation in the Head Office. Moreover, the Federal Government of Germany, which will eventually have to foot the entire bill is getting very cross.

What are they going to do with the Chengs? Worst of all, what "relief" can they negotiate with the government of President GMA which refuses to recognize some "sweetheart" passages in the contract?

The fact is that the Chief Executive has assigned one of her toughest and most savvy Cabinet members, Secretary Gloria L. Tan Climaco, Presidential Adviser on Strategic Projects, to investigate the project – and, from what I hear, she has already uncovered a "can of worms". Ms. Tan Climaco, a former President of SyCip, Gorres & Velayo (SGV), is a topnotch accountant and financial analyst, and – more than that – a fearless, brook-no-nonsense individual. I understand from Alikabok that she has already been bombarded with a barrage of proffered blandishments if she only relaxed her stand, but she has nixed all compromises.

The trouble is that the Chengs (Papa Yong, who’s just got himself "elected" Chairman of PIATCO, and son Jeffrey) are obviously very well-connected. They’ve got on their side a Cabinet member whose "confirmation" used to be in doubt, but, from the rumor-mills, I hear that suddenly he’s headed for confirmation by the Commission on Appointments. Why, even the opposition leader, former Senate President and Executive Secretary Ed Angara, has begun to sing his praises.

Another ally of the Chengs is a top man in the Manila International Airport management who’s been denying he had anything to do with the deal.

Indeed, I have in hand a list of "payments" doled out for certain "undertakings". US $600,000 here, $200,000 there, another $200,000 here, $100,000 there, the second biggest sum, "TST Drawdown under project financing," being $350,000, plus other amounts earmarked at $50,000 each.

What alarms some observers who’ve taken a peek into the Terminal 3 arrangement is the tsismis that a former notorious Binondo smuggling gang may have shoehorned itself into the project. What fascinates me in this connection is the "plan" of PIATCO Chairman Cheng Yong to build a "cargo terminal" in addition to the Terminal 3 construction. What? That was not included in the PIATCO agreement or the original Terminal 3 blueprint.

To avoid suspicion that Terminal 3 could become a smuggler’s conduit, President Macapagal-Arroyo and her Strategic Projects Secretary, Gloria Tan Climaco, must immediately order any plan to build such a cargo warehouse scrapped. Such warehouses or cargo terminals should be handled legally by the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) authority, not the Terminal 3 operators.

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Back to the lucky Mr. Liongson.

What continues to mystify many of us who’ve been looking at his role from all angles is how he qualifies as an expert in airport matters – indeed, to command such an impressive "base fee" of $200,000 per month. It turns out that he has a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Agriculture degree from the University of the Philippines, Los Baños. Then he has a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila.

He lives in Wack-Wack (to preserve his privacy I won’t divulge his address) and his business offices are located in Parañaque.

He belongs to three Rotary Clubs, but the most interesting one of all may be the Rotary Club of Makati Central. It’s surely only a coincidence, or course, that another member of the same club is First Gentleman Mike Arroyo and (unless I’m out of date) GMA’s brother Diosdado "Buboy" Macapagal, Jr.

Naah. There can’t be any connection, ’di ba?