Getting stuck in a quagmire with China

Last week the Asian Development Bank (ADB) held its four-day 45th annual meeting of the board of directors with 4,000 delegates and there is no question that it was a successful hosting by the Philippine government, which was capped by President Aquino’s speech, which many folks strongly believe was his way of washing our dirty linen in public. Allow me to reprint an excerpt of that Presidential speech.

“The message, for nine and a half years, was: nice guys finish last. To finish first, you had to lack conscience, exhibit a certain degree of shamelessness, and be an expert at giving handshakes with one hand, while picking pockets with the other. The playing field was skewed towards those who had connections or those who could afford to bribe their way into contracts or permits. Politics permeated everything, even poverty-alleviation programs; slots on the conditional cash transfer program were handed out in exchange for votes.”

What the President was in effect saying was — the previous government under GMA was corrupt, while the Aquino administration would have none of this corruption. Really now. I just got an email from a close friend who told me that the Department of Finance (DOF) had a budget of P300 million for that event. But they did not take a direct hand in dealing with suppliers (like the buses, vehicles or security concerns) as this was appointed to the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP). Notice that the word here is appointed. Why wasn’t this bid out?

I gathered further that the contract with the MAP was signed by the executive director of MAP, whom many suppliers never met in person. The question is… why did the DoF use MAP? Was it a payback for MAP’s supporting the election of P-Noy in the 2010 elections? Is it true that the ADB gave the P300 million to the DoF for handling the Governors’ meeting? My source tells me that only P178 million was spent for the four-day event… so where is the balance? Was it returned to ADB or… hmmmm, just asking!

I also learned that the four-day event had several sponsors, which triggers the question… why did they get sponsors when the ADB gave them the funds for this event? What was quite disturbing is the report I got that a large part of the money was paid to the Philippine National Police (PNP) to handle the security problems. Wait! Why should the PNP be paid for that event... isn’t securing the delegates their job in the first place?

My friend tells me that ADB is reviewing the expenses of that four-day event with a fine toothcomb. I certainly hope that they will not find any anomalies in that transaction with the MAP otherwise it will be very embarrassing for P-Noy that despite his speech, nothing much has changed.

*      *      *

I got a call from my good friend, hotelier Boom Fonacier last Thursday morning whether I have heard reports that China had suspended all charter flights to and from the Philippines. Apparently this report was correct… and I got my validation from the BBC news, which quoted the state owned China Travel Service that the Chinese government issued a travel advisory to its citizens not to travel to the Philippines because of the ongoing row at the disputed Scarborough Shoal between China and the Philippines.

The China Travel Service told BBC that the order came from China’s National Tourism Administration because of the “Strong anti-China sentiment in the Philippines.” Ironically… that “strong anti-China sentiment” stems from the protest by Leftist organizations allied to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) who are marching the streets in protest against China’s claim in the Scarborough shoal. My hunch is all this could be stage managed in order to put pressure on President Aquino to drop our claim.

What is happening here is… this is China’s way of retaliating against our claims on the disputed Scarborough Shoal and the planned protest rallies in Chinese Embassies by Filipinos around the world? If you ask me, this is an escalation of the Scarborough row, but the difference is, it’s no longer a seaborne confrontation, but an economic one. Today… China is aiming at the jugular against our tourism industry… what next? Will they stop sending us cheap Chinese goods… so that we will have to source our basic needs in other countries, which is more expensive than what we can get in China?

According to Tourism sources, Chinese Tourist make up around 10% of tourist arrivals in the Philippines, which means we will not be making our tourism targets for the Year 2012. Then there is the domino effect of this travel ban… there will be less flights from China which should make DOTC Sec. Mar Roxas happy because it would ease the congestion at the NAIA. Then there will be empty hotel rooms from all over the country. So Mr. President, what’s your policy with China now? Methinks Pres. PNoy got himself into this quagmire and I’m afraid he cannot tackle it anymore.

*   *   *

For email responses to this article, write to [email protected] or [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.