Miriam's nephew bags Subic golf deal

A nephew of pro-administration Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago has bagged a deal to operate the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) golf course, Northern Samar Rep. Emil Ong revealed yesterday.

Ong said SBMA Chairman Feliciano Salonga and Administrator Armand Arreza have awarded the contract to run the golf course and its facilities to Benjamin John Defensor III, son of retired Gen. Benjamin Defensor, former Air Force and Armed Forces chief.

He said the award is anomalous since the previous lessees, who are Taiwanese investors, have pending court cases against Salonga and Arreza arising from their eviction for non-payment of rentals.

He said SBMA officials should have waited for the courts to decide on these cases before leasing the golf facilities to other investors.

They in effect jumped the gun on the courts, he added.

Ong has asked the House committee on oversight, which has opened an inquiry into the eviction of Taiwanese investors from the Subic Golf Club, to look into the lease of the facilities to Defensor III.

At the same time, he urged potential foreign and local investors in the club to await the final disposition of court cases against SBMA.

He also raised the possibility that Defensor III is just fronting for South Korean investors.

Citing registration papers, Ong said Sen. Santiago’s nephew holds less than one percent of shares in Hanafil Golf and Tour Inc., while South Korean investors own 87 percent of the company.

He said it appeared that SBMA has driven its Taiwanese investors in the golf club out to welcome the South Koreans.

“The evicted lessees, who claim to have invested P1 billion in the golf course and its facilities, were telling us the truth all along. Arreza had indeed been negotiating with the South Koreans for the takeover of the golf course,” he said.

He described as “disadvantageous” to the government the terms of the lease given to Defensor III.

For one, the new lessees were given a moratorium of one year to make their rentals ostensibly to allow them to spend their money on rehabilitating the club, he said.