Nothing final yet on Subic port deal, says SBMA

The joint venture agreement between Harbour Centre Port Terminal Inc. (HCPTI) and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) to develop the ports here had been approved by the previous SBMA board, but the new board has not yet pursued it owing to issues raised by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), a top SBMA official said.

Although the old SBMA board approved the deal in February 2010, “the present SBMA board continues its due diligence and review of the matter,” said

SBMA Chair Roberto Garcia.

Government Corporate Counsel Raoul Creencia had concluded in a 13-page legal opinion that the joint venture agreement between SBMA and HCPTI covering the Naval Supply Depot, Boton, Alava, Rivera, and Bravo wharves and ports was “above board.”

“It is considered the view of the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) that the joint venture agreement was signed in compliance with the joint venture guidelines and is consistent with the joint venture principles,” said Creencia.

Garcia said that nothing about the deal is final yet because

Neda withdrew its endorsement of the project (on July 8) for various violations of the 2008 joint venture guidelines for government-owned and controlled corporations.

He said the OGCC has urged the SBMA to “suspend the notice of award for the project while the matter is thoroughly studied by the OGCC Ecozone Team.”

He said former SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza had failed to convince the Neda board to reconsider its position.

“Given the apparent position of Neda as stated in its withdrawal [which it] reiterated in its October 7 denial [in a letter addressing] Arreza’s request for reconsideration, the SBMA wrote OGCC on October 10 to ask whether the board could still apply the Neda guidelines, particularly whether deviations to the guidelines are permissible now [after the agency withdrew its support to the joint venture deal],” Garcia said.

Enrique Razon, owner of rival port operator, InternationalContainer Terminal Services Inc., lobbied strongly to block the HCPTI deal with the SBMA.

The Abono party-list group also urged then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to investigate what it called “disadvantageous nature” of the agreement. It said it had received complaints from cargo-handling firms in the free port that the deal was made without undergoing due process.Robert Gonzaga, Inquirer Central Luzon