Friday, May 09, 2008 Ledesma: The woes of Hanjin By Jun Ledesma Sunbursts
CAGAYAN DE ORO -- Just passed by the towns of Tagoloan and Villanueva. There is no perceptible construction activity in the vast Phivedec Estate that straddles in these two coastal and laidback municipalities. All that the motorists see are (maybe) equipments or supplies that are covered with blue tarpaulins.
I expected to see thousands of hardhat workers milling about town and workplaces, but there were none. Save for existing firms that had located long time ago in Phivedec the industrial estate is in the state of stagnation. Which is rather sad if the story about Hanjin Heavy Industries pull out is true.
Here is an example of how the virus of corruption can paralyze development. Hanjin ceased developing its $2-billionshipbuilding complex because of alleged extortion from local town authorities who in turn claimed that they are being bribed by the firm to shortcut some process.
Well, if you ask me, the statement of Hanjin sounds more plausible while the latter's claim are rather ridiculous and preposterous. There is an attempt to fix the scandal by dubbing it as a classic case of misunderstanding. The explanation was that the alleged P400-million bribe money was actually the estimated amount to divert the waterway course. That looks convincing except that nothing seems to be moving yet. The absence of activity gives credence to earlier reports that something is really the matter in the sudden stoppage of work in Tagoloan and Villanueva.
One can only wish that whatever sorrowful mystery shrouds the multi-billion-peso project in the northern rim of Mindanao would be quickly resolved. By some estimates about 40,000 high-paying blue-collar jobs will be available once the shipbuilding complex starts operating. The immediate beneficiaries of the project are of course the residents of Tagoloan and Villanueva.
The young people there cannot live and expect to live in the not-so-profitable patches papaya plantations here and there. They should bond together and prod the town authorities to help facilitate the processing of legal documents required from Hanjin instead of impeding them. Mayor Oloy Emano and Juliette Uy must demonstrate their concern for their respective political constituents by helping these investors, who are hard to find these days.
Emano and Uy should absorb lessons from Davao City experience. For their benefit, it might interest them to know that years back, in the first term of Mayor Duterte, the country's biggest brewery -- San Miguel Corporation decided they should set up a brewery in Davao city. It was to be the biggest outside of Metro Manila. There was euphoria in the city and the neophyte mayor was ecstatic over the prospect. To his shock however, SMB quietly changed plans and set up the plant instead in the town of Sta. Cruz, south of the city.
From what I learned, the mayor hastily flew to Manila and inquired from SMB management about the sudden change of heart. He was bluntly told that there were city councilmen who demanded P2-million each for the smooth passage of their application to operate a brewery.
The incident almost drove Mayor Duterte to resign. I was present when he dressed down the councilmen. Some concerned friends prevailed on the mayor to reconsider his decision. No amount of scolding will prod the pacmen to resign thus it is better for the mayor to stand guard should they continue with their rapacious agenda.
Well, some of those involved in the failed extort had gone to the great beyond.
