Cabaero: Trump business in Philippines

I'VE always loved the Philippines. I think it's just a special place and Manila is one of Asia's most spectacular cities.”

American billionaire and now President-elect Donald Trump said this not as a foreign policy but as an endorsement that he gave in 2012 for the construction of his Trump Tower at Century City in Makati, Philippines.

Trump is not a stranger to the Philippines, but most Filipinos do not know Trump has properties and investments in the country. Will this condominium project be one of those business holdings that Trump would have to divest to avoid a conflict of interest situation when he sits at the White House?

More important for Filipinos to know is if his love for the Philippines, as professed at the start of the Trump Tower project, change with his foreign policy against suspected sources of terrorists and illegal immigrants. Would that love turn to rejection?

Trump tagged the Philippines as a “terrorist nation” during his campaign speech against illegal immigrants last August. He said refugees from these “terrorist nations” should be barred from the United States. He went on to name the Philippines and other countries who have citizens who were arrested in the US for terrorism-related offenses. A Filipino who lived in California was arrested two years ago and found guilty of providing support to the al-Qaida.

Way before he ran for President and won in a surprise victory over Democratic Party’s Secretary Hillary Clinton, Trump was his usual billionaire self on the lookout for new investment opportunities. He found one in the Trump Tower in Makati. Published reports said Trump does not own the project but he licensed his name to the developers, the Century Property Group of the Antonio family. It was not clear how much was his stake in the partnership or what he got for the use of his brand.

Trump’s son Eric, Trump Organization’s executive vice president for development and acquisition, visited the Makati project last year to check on progress on the 56-storey building. He was happy to note the work was on schedule. Condominium units are scheduled to be turned over to their buyers by end of this year.

The fate of Trump’s holdings in various business interests is one of the issues the incoming American president is tackling with advisers as he prepares to go to the White House. Some say he would have to divest himself from his holdings or cede control of his companies to his elder children or just give general instructions and not be part of the operations. The final arrangement would be up to Trump.

What will happen to his business interests and the use of his brand name in the Philippines are things that would be known in the developments to come, especially once he sets down his foreign policies affecting immigration and the anti-terror campaign.

If the Philippines is declared a terrorist country, will Trump drop his business interests? He said he would not want the United States to have anything to do with these “terrorist nations.”

While Filipino leaders hope that US-Philippines relations would improve under Trump, there is nothing definite yet in terms of policy changes that would affect the Philippines.

(ninicab@sunstar.com.ph)

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