TransCo: Is it a deal or no deal?

As usual, in this country, there are no losers. Everybody is a winner, and those who did not win in the National Transmission Co. (TransCo) bidding are complaining that it was rigged to favor businessman and International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) head Ricky Razon – who is perceived to be a close ally of the president. The planned privatization of Transco has been long overdue with a number of biddings botched over the years for one reason or another, hounded by a lot of controversies. This recent one is no exception with  “conflict of interest” being raised against bid winner Monte Oro group backed by China’s State Grid Corp. There are also allegations of corruption with some lawmakers linking GMA’s brother Buboy Macapagal to the companies involved in the winning consortium. 

Of course Jamby Madrigal had been saying the deal is “lutong makaw,” calling it the “queen of all scams” and vowing to block the granting of franchise to Monte Oro. She’s claiming the government is at the losing end in this project, virtually accusing the other participants of collusion. The winning bidder submitted $3.95 billion, with the next closest bid coming in at $3.905 by San Miguel Energy. Malacañang had said the difference is substantial and should not be scoffed at, while there are those who insist the disparity between the two bids is very close and not that much. That’s probably a question of perception and subjective interpretation.

Let’s get to the bottom of this and find out whether in fact the government is at a losing end in this project. Government should make sure that the records and the process is made open to the public – with anyone able to take a close look – to dispel all these accusations of corruption and other anomalies.  But at the end of the day, the most important thing is that the privatization project is a good deal for government and ultimately, for the Filipino. 

Like I said in a previous column, just because someone happens to be a friend of the president doesn’t mean he can no longer take part in a bidding process. A lot of people are making a mountain out of the fact that Ricky Razon was Team Unity’s treasurer during the senatorial elections last May, as if that alone is proof that his company does not have the capability to carry on the project. As a matter of fact, Ricky is reportedly prepared to divest his interest in the consortium. He doesn’t even have to, if he only owns two percent (or even less) in Monte Oro.

This privatization project is really necessary because the transmission line facilities of Transco are already outdated. In some areas, new substations need to be built to avoid power interruptions. There’s a lot of drainage because of these outdated facilities, and there’s no way government can afford to finance the necessary upgrading and repair of these outdated facilities. Besides which, the franchise for the winning bidder can be easily cut off by Congress.

The Transco privatization is long overdue. It’s really a choice whether this Transco project is a good deal – or no deal at all.

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Expect renewed debates again once the House Bill proposing the restoration of English as the medium of instruction in public schools is passed – which is as good as done with majority of the congressmen reportedly backing the bill authored by Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas. The move to impose Filipino in teaching even math and science subjects has been a disaster, giving birth to “Engalog” or “Taglish” which resulted in funny-sounding word combinations of English and Tagalog.

Purists and nationalists may disagree, but there’s no denying we have lost our competitive edge over other nations when English was dropped as a medium of instruction. A lot of graduates have lost out on jobs especially in the business process outsourcing industry because of poor English comprehension, with surveys showing a big decline in terms of proficiency, comprehension and fluency.

Out of 400,000 new college graduates, a little less than three percent get employed in call centers because of their inability to express themselves competently in English. What is also alarming is a study by the Department of Education (DepEd) that only “19 out of 100 (public school) teachers have the competence and ability to speak English.

After GMA’s visit to Spain, she now wants to return the Spanish language as a subject in schools. Jose “Don Pepe” Rodriguez, who is a personal friend of mine and Max Soliven’s and is a veteran journalist who has lived in the Philippines for 25 years before joining the Spanish government as the new director of Instituto Cervantes (IC) in Manila, told me there are more than 6,000 students enrolled at the IC in Manila, and the number is expected to go up in the coming school year. Don Pepe says more than 400 million people worldwide speak Spanish and is the official language in 21 countries.

No doubt proficiency in English and Spanish will give Filipinos the competitive edge in the global arena – but let’s make sure we have enough teachers for these subjects – and more importantly, that they are competent to teach.

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