THE World Bank (WB) is so much concerned with the lack of transparency among client governments that recently it virtually accused the Philippines of overpricing foreign-financed projects, a charge that is not unusual anymore.

Not far from the controversial and allegedly graft-ridden Diosdado Macapagal Highway at the Manila Bay reclamation area is the proposed $15-billion Bagong Nayong Pilipino entertainment and leisure complex to be built across 40 hectares of prime reclaimed land.

So far, there is absolutely no controversy that has tainted the 10-year program of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) under the leadership of Efraim C. Genuino, chairman and executive officer.

Observers say this is so because the project, from conceptualization to implementation, has so far been undertaken with utmost transparency.

It better be, because the image of the country as a bribe-taker and bribe-giver, whether justified or not, is known far and wide, so much so that it has earned the reputation of being either No. 1 or 2 when it comes to corruption.

Genuino says the Bagong Nayong Pilipino project will be undertaken at no cost to the government, meaning to say, private investors from abroad will shoulder all the expenses. Licensing and supervision will, however, remain in the hands of Pagcor. All transactions with the investors, he adds, will be transparent, and records will be open to the public.

This particular Pagcor project will be financed entirely by private investors, unlike other government undertakings funded by foreign institutions such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) where the twin issues of graft and corruption on the one hand and transparency on the other have brought us shame in scandalous proportions.

According to the WB, it will, in no uncertain terms, scale up existing good practice in engaging with multiple stakeholders in its operational work, and strengthening transparency, participation and third-party monitoring.

The World Bank says its mandate in focusing on governance and minimizing corruption worldwide is to reduce poverty to create opportunities for poor people, provide better services, and improve development outcomes.

“Don’t make the poor pay twice,” the WB warns.

The Subic exec carjack case

Attracting foreign investors to our shores is not an easy task. While foreign investors are being offered left and right all sorts of incentives and tax holidays, all these will go to naught if the government doesn’t quickly solve the spate of carjacking incidents and other crimes, especially those where the victims are foreigners.

Just a few days ago, a carjacking syndicate victimized a foreign executive by the name of Jack Hu, vice president of the Subic Bay Golf and Country Club.

The police killed the two carjackers in a shootout in Quezon City last week, wherein one responding police officer died.

However, the Ford Expedition owned by Hu was not recovered. He also lost vital financial, business and legal documents he needed for a court case against the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).

Hu and his family moved to Metro Manila, probably thinking that Quezon City was a safer place for them. The case against the SBMA was filed in Olongapo City.

According to Hu, the carjacking incident could be related to his family’s dispute with the SBMA.  The suspects took his laptop and mobile phone together with his court documents.

It may not be a simple carjacking incident, but the police have yet to determine the veracity of the report.

About 16 hours earlier, the police also arrested in an unrelated incident two other suspects who had carjacked a Honda CRV from a Taiwanese investor.

Incidents such as these two recent cases are what foreign investors are afraid of.

Fiscal incentives and tax holidays are necessary, but so are lives of foreign investors.  They need ample police protection more than tariff and trade protection. 

E-mail: raulbvalino@yahoo.com.ph

READING the World Bank’s latest report on East-Asia and the Pacific entitled “Will Resilience Overcome Risk?”, one can’t help but think that the future indeed belongs to the region.

ARGUING with the economic “experts” about the Philippines is about the same as arguing with my five-year-old son about thunder. I keep telling Adam that the noise from thunder will not hurt him, but his knowledge on the subject is too limited for him to understand the reality. So it is also with many experts who talk about the Philippine economy.

THERE just isn’t enough evidence to support the increasingly popular hypothesis that Asian economies are “decoupling” from a slowing US.

Mirror on the wall: Pagcor strives for transparency

THE World Bank (WB) is so much concerned with the lack of transparency among client governments that recently it virtually accused the Philippines of overpricing foreign-financed projects, a charge that is not unusual anymore.

FOR many students, classes in science and math can be a sleep-inducing experience.

Two thousand years after Socrates, the traditional lecture approach where the professor dominates the classroom discussion is still the standard teaching method of science in universities.

If you overindulged in turkey last Thursday, you’re not alone.
Research by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has found that, on average, people gain about a pound during the period between Thanksgiving and late February. Most of the increase occurs between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. When participants in the study were checked again a year later, they had gained another 1.4 pounds.

LMR. Speaker, I urge, nay, I plead with the leadership of the House not to dignify the Pulido impeachment complaint with any further formal proceeding.