Passport woes

It is not everyday that we see Senator Mar Roxas jump in jubilation. But he did when the Supreme Court lifted a TRO slapped by a lower court against the Department of Foreign Affairs, allowing the latter to implement a passport project that promises to give Filipinos machine-readable passports, bringing them at par with the rest of the world. At what cost? That’s another story.

Many were perplexed by the Senator’s reaction, which had also left the rest of the coffee shop crowd wondering if perhaps his euphoria might be premature or may have been based on incomplete information.

There was already an ongoing project for the production of machine-readable passports since 2000. It was a P2-billion project approved by then DFA Secretary Lauro Baja. The project was under the BOT scheme, which means it is entirely privately funded.

Our colleagues say that, for some reason and against the counsel of his underlings, DFA Secretary Alberto Romulo decided to terminate the project. He was reportedly warned by the inter-agency BOT center that doing so could open him to lawsuits.

Romulo reportedly junked the BOT project because the proponent had inadequate capital. The order was signed by Undersecretary Franklin Ebdalin who signed only after affixing the words "Upon instruction of the Secretary of Foreign Affairs".

But his undersecretaries apparently found the reason difficult to defend because there was supposed to have been a financial and technical evaluation of the proponent’s project prior to its approval. The project was already nearing second stage when it was zapped — a case of changing rules in midstream? Furthermore, our colleagues say the issue about the financial capability of the BOT proponent was already resolved by then Secretary Delia Albert and Finance Secretary Gary Teves.

After junking the already-running BOT project, the DFA signed a new deal with the BSP for a substitute passport project that would require a government capital outlay of around P2 billion. This substitute project was the subject of a TRO lifted by the High Court.

Did Senator Roxas know about the junked BOT project that would have saved P2 billion in taxpayers money?

Our coffee pals say Secretary Romulo is expected to dig in on this issue. He had already ignored the counsel both of his underlings and that of the BOT center. This is going to be difficult because the BOT proponent, who has reportedly sunk in more than P300 million into the project, is probably not about to throw in the towel.

In the meantime, we will have to make do with our non-machine-readable passports. There is a deadline for a shift to the machine readable ones: 2010. If we are not able to do so before the deadline, we could be subjected to more humiliating experiences at various ports of entries.

We hope this matter is resolved soonest in a manner advantageous to taxpayers. Then, perhaps, Senator Roxas can have a better reason to rejoice.

Unsolved puzzle

Why government would still not accept the $200-million bailout offer of the Lucio Tan-owned Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp. (AEDC) to resolve the legal and financial woes bugging the administration concerning the controversial NAIA-3 terminal has confused many.

The supposed world-class terminal is structurally defective, that’s for sure. Here is a white knight, willing and able to assume the problem, offering $200 million which already covers the $145 million cost of building the terminal based on latest government estimates as well as the $50 million required to complete and repair the building.

Why government is insisting on operating it, paying P3 billion to Piatco as part of just compensation, is mind-boggling. Atty. Eduardo Ceniza, Tan’s legal counsel, says the expropriation proceedings is an unnecessary legal move because the land on which the building stands belongs to the government.

But more that saving government from the burden of having to repair the defective terminal, observers believe that recognizing AEDC’s legal and vested rights over the terminal could spare the government from being accountable for investment claims being pursued by the builders (Piatco and Fraport) amounting to around $1 billion.

AEDC also believes these investment claims pending before the foreign bodies ICC and ICSID would be dismissed if government withdraws the expropriation case it filed.

Not so hidden agenda

 PhilNaRe going public? – A number of analyst and trader firms have been hounding me for more information on the recent announcement of National Reinsurance Corp. of the Phils. (PhilNaRe) to go public by the third quarter. PhilNaRe is a reinsurance entity that many didn’t know existed and is now hoping to raise from P3 to P4 billion from the local market. Well what do you know? The company is apparently not only financially sound but has plans of positioning as a major reinsurance player in the region as well. It is the country’s only reinsurance company and is wholly Filipino owned. It is also backed by the GSIS, the Yuchengco and Ayala groups. Do we need to say more? Better than borrowing, the IPO will provide PhilNaRe with interest-free money to fund its expansion making its growth targets credibly achievable.

Political gimmick? – So what is this Save Makati! Movement that has been questioning certain alleged anomalies going on at the Makati City government? It is an anti-graft watchdog formed last year, with 70,000 members, and headed by Oscar Ibay, three-time city councilor. He ran for mayor in 2004 against Jojo Binay but lost due to lack of funding. So is Save Makati! an anti-Binay group? Its members insist that no it isn’t. It just so happened that Binay is involved in almost all graft cases in Makati , they say. Ibay is running as congressman in the 1st district of Makati, against Rico Puno and Teddyboy Locsin. He is not running against Binay. Lito Lapid is the administration’s mayoralty bet in Makati. In short, the movement is not a political gimmick.

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