Dick Gordon: Gov’t missed ‘golden opportunity’

FOR FORMER Sen. Richard Gordon, the government missed a “golden opportunity” in terms of possible big-ticket investments in the country when it decided to host the recently concluded Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Manila.

Gordon on Friday said that had the government chosen Subic or Clark free port to be this year’s Apec summit venue, it could have shown to potential investors and economic leaders not only the region’s opportunities for growth but also of how it was able to rise from the devastation brought about by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991.

He pointed out that the problem in hosting Apec in the capital is that “we could not show [to investors and economic leaders] what has been done,” especially in terms of infrastructure, unlike in Subic and Clark which are former military bases that have become two of the country’s growth areas.

“That was a golden opportunity that should not have been missed,” Gordon told the

Inquirer on Friday at the sidelines of the inauguration of the Philippine Red Cross’ logistic and multipurpose center in Mandaluyong City.

Subic was the site of the Philippines’ first hosting of the Apec summit in 1996. At that time, Gordon was the chair and administrator of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.