"Is it just a coincidence that the people behind these initiatives are all women?"
"Is it just a coincidence that the people behind these initiatives are all women?"
Last week was an eventful one, with several breakthroughs happening under an administration that, well past its midpoint, is still far from being a lame duck.
This afternoon’s rallyists at the annual victimization orgy celebrating “EDSA people power” would of course disagree, having adopted the “Oust Duterte” slogan for good. Unfortunately, history continues to pass them by, whether they see it or not. Among the first-time milestones that were passed:
Foreign investment pledges more than doubled, from P179 billion in 2018 to an all-time high of P390 billion in 2019. At the same time, industrial construction surged by 30 percent in 2018, with the momentum carrying over into the first nine months of last year. Analysts expect the rest of the region to benefit as many multinational companies reconfigure their supply chains away from China with its recurrent public health issues.
Ironically, more than three-fourths of the new pledges also came from China. This ought to improve their local image amid concerns about the corona virus; tax evasion, immigration bribes, prostitution rings, and other misbehavior by POGOs; and of course the unresolved maritime face-off in the West Philippine Sea. A misbehaving POGO was shut down by the BIR—also for the first time—as if to make a point about our unsettled sentiments over the Chinese presence.
Of course, investment pledges aren’t worth much until the actual cash comes in, which can take as long as five years later. What will help in this case is the recent passage by the House of amendments to the 84-year-old Public Services Act that lifted the 40-percent limit on foreign ownership in the power, transport, and communications sectors. They did this by the neat trick of distinguishing between “public service” and “public utility.”
The leftists are belatedly making a fuss over security risks in opening up these vital sectors to foreigners. They may have a point this time, especially for software-driven utilities where hidden back doors can always be tucked away. But any concerns about, say, China shouldn’t be generalized to other, more responsible investors like, say, Japan or Europe. And if they wish, our legislators can always restore restrictions in the future, even as our security establishment ought to stay on the ball anyway monitoring those sensitive sectors, regardless of who owns them.
The PEZA under its redoubtable chair Charito Plaza may be tying up soon with the AFP to set up defense industrial economic zones that will produce military equipment for the country and maybe even for the rest of the region. This may be the first time our military will get involved in commercial manufacturing activity. Judging from the exemplary performance of many ex-officers now in public service, we have every reason to expect their success in business as well.
A fine example of such performance is the no-nonsense DILG head, former AFP chief of staff Ed Ano, who has ordered local mayors to create and lead task forces to enforce the ban on tricycles using the national highways. Anyone who’s driven long stretches in our country has his own story about how errant tricycles slowed them down or even almost got them into accidents.
This ban has long been on the statute books, but is being enforced only now. Either the tricycles must now be rerouted elsewhere, or else they must sport special stickers and may be restricted only to certain times of the day. This ought to free up our highways for better use by the people they were intended for—long distance drivers—while we’re waiting for all those grandiose promises by our infrastructure agencies about building the Pan-Luzon Expressway to come true.
Over in Makati, we may be seeing the country’s first-ever subway system after all, ahead of the proposed Mega Manila subway that inexplicably keeps getting realigned towards—rather than away from—earthquake fault areas. Under the much more sensible Mayor Abby Binay, a Chinese-backed consortium called Philippine Infradev Holdings was greenlighted to go ahead with the $3.5-billion, 10-kilometer Makati subway, now dubbed “MkTr.”
Much of the cashflow to support construction will come from topside development of some 28 hectares of prime Makati land. It’s a financial model that was successfully used in building the Hong Kong subway system, which also collected signage as well as farebox revenues on the back of its lucrative real estate.
Finally, for the first time ever, the country will be holding its first nationwide shopping sale throughout the whole of March. The DOT is partnering with all the major mall operators, as well as airlines and hotels who will offer substantial discounts. Patterned after similar events in Singapore and Hong Kong, it’s a great promotional idea, not just for the tourism, retail and hospitality industries, but also for the bold proposition—too long left unsaid—that we as a people are a lot bigger than whatever virus is thrown our way.
Is it just a coincidence, by the way, that the people behind these initiatives—PEZA’s Plaza, Makati’s Binay, DOT’s Secretary Romulo-Puyat—are all women? It’s clear what this says about the fairer sex, though not so clear about what this means for their bitter half.
* * *
Ash Wednesday tomorrow will be observed differently for the first time, in reaction to the same corona virus than which I just said we should prove we are bigger. But our bishops place their parishioners’ welfare first, and thus—at least in Manila and Kalookan—communicants will receive a sprinkling of ashes on their heads instead of the traditional cross marked on their foreheads.
Regardless of the symbolism, what matters is the same underlying message: for us to die to our sins so that we may accede to new life. In the first reading (Jas 4: 1-10), James, the “brother of Jesus”, admonishes us: “Submit yourselves to God…Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse our hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you of two minds…Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”
When the Disciples were arguing about who among them was the greatest, it fell to Jesus to repeat that call to humility (Mk 9: 30-37): “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” It was also His way of letting them know—though they did not understand it then—that He would soon subject Himself to the ultimate humility of dying on the cross for the sins of others—the rest of us—though not His, never His.
Readers can write me at gbolivar1952@yahoo.com.
