Infrastructure projects to bring peace in Mindanao

MANILA, Philippines–Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) remains on the prowl for new investment deals as it urged the government to bid out potential airport and road deals in Mindanao to aid peace efforts as well as the Malampaya gas project that is expiring in nine years, branding it the “deal of the century.”

SMC president Ramon S. Ang, speaking at the sidelines of an investment forum organized by Euromoney where he was a guest speaker, outlined the new plans, which suggested that SMC was still keen on growing its nonfood and beverage businesses.

Ang said SMC was looking into developing new infrastructure in Mindanao, saying a deficiency there was hindering peace efforts.

“We should build more roads, international airports, [sea] ports and hospitals,” Ang said, noting that better infrastructure would pave the way for increased prosperity, thus reducing the need for armed conflict in Mindanao. “The biggest problem in our country is peace and order in Mindanao.”

Ang cited an early investment he made in a cement plant in Batangas province, which suffered from attacks by the rebel group New People’s Army in the early 1990s.

Batangas, Cavite, Laguna and Quezon are progressive provinces today, but at that time, he said, these were considered “no man’s land.”

“You know how the government solved that—they did not sign any peace treaty, they built more roads,” Ang said.

The businessman that SMC, which has been an active participant in the Aquino administration’s public private partnership (PPP) program, will participate in public auctions for Mindanao infrastructure deals once these are offered to the private sector.

Ang said SMC, which already owns the Philippines’s biggest oil refiner Petron Corp., would bid for the Malampaya gas project should the future administration decide to bid it out when the current contract expires in 2024.

The project, which supplies more than 40 percent of Luzon’s power requirements, is being operated by Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. and Chevron Malampaya LLC while the government retains a minority stake.

“It’s going to be one of the biggest projects that will be bid out,” Ang told reporters. He declined to give specific details but he noted that the project still has plenty of potential and that nearby areas could be explored.