The news report “Chinese company banned by World Bank bags PH infrastructure project” (News, 10/26/16) was quite predictable. In this Republic of Crab Mentality, it was no surprise that Duterte haters would pounce on the President as usual; and his very successful “sales mission” to China opened a window of opportunity for the “crabs.”

Before that story came out, a nepotist’s son was already circulating on social media that business deals between Chinese and Filipino companies would be questionable; that the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and the Clark Development Corp. have awarded the Subic-Clark railway project to Chinese company China Harbour Engineering Co. Ltd. without public bidding; that China Road and Bridge Road Corp. won the project to build part of the Metro Manila Bus Rapid Transit system without a project feasibility study; and that China Harbour and China Road are blacklisted by the World Bank allegedly because of their questionable practices in the past.

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In response to that news story, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) explained that the projects are just on the feasibility study stage; and what the cited companies entered into were merely memorandums of understanding (MOU) to conduct a feasibility study, not contracts to build. The BCDA also clarified that the construction of the projects will depend on the result of the study, and if found feasible and viable, they still have to undergo a rigorous public bidding process to determine which companies will undertake the projects.

The attempt to ridicule President Duterte for the whopping $24-billion Chinese investments he took home was so lame because of ignorance. The “crab” obviously did not know the existence of the MOU. The next time he tries to torpedo administration projects, he better use his summa cum laude powers to get his facts straight.

ROUVEL WRENN SANCHEZ, [email protected]

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