THE BIGGER WINNER

The San Miguel Corporation-led Consortium won the award to rehabilitate the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), loudly acclaimed as the winner.

The bigger winner, though, in this bidding is the government. The SMC bid was so generous to the government that the second highest bidder was not even half of SMC bid.

SMC offered to give to the government 82.16 percent of revenues from its managing the almost dilapidated international airport. The second best offer was 33.3 percent of revenues and the third said it would give the government 25.91 percent of incomes.

Put together the bids of second and third best bidders, they still run short by a big margin to the SMC bid.

As bidders used the same parameters in arriving at their offers, the question raised is, how can SMC be so generous? Is SMC doing a suicide that will end with obligations in the contract not fulfilled?

The same questions were raised when SMC out-bided the Manuel V. Pangilinan (MVP) group for the right to build the NAIA Expressway (NAIAX). SMC offered to pay the government P11 Billion for the right to build the expressway. MVP group said it would pay P350 Million.

In that NAIAX, it was an ocean of a difference on the offered tender to buy the right to build the expressway, that many were asking, can Ramon S. Ang do the project? Has RSA gone nuts?

If for being a straight and fair shooter makes one crazy, then RSA has gone nuts.

Today, NAIAX stands out as a practical solution to the traffic congestion in the NAIA area. It is perfectly working, proving that business can be generous, spell fair to all parties, and still make money.

NAIAX is another big win by the government, the P11 Billion paid by SMC was used to build other infrastructure projects. Had RSA shied away from the project, then the MVP offer of P350M would have been the price paid to the government.

P900 B projected earnings

On the NAIA rehabilitation, the government estimates to earn P900 Billion for the duration of the concession – way higher as compared to the P20.05 Billion it earned from 2010 to 2023, the amount remitted by the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) to the national treasury.

And compared to the second best bid, the difference also runs to hundreds of billions of pesos.

The “unbelievable” offer by SMC unmasks another truth, that most of our big business guys, offering to help the government in nation building thru infra projects, are more interested in profits. For had SMC not participated in the bid, the next best bidder would have taken the award even when its offer was not even half of SMC tender.

Let us learn from what SMC is telling our government.

How many Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects were won by bidders driven by greed?

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