Billionaire’s motive beneficial to Iloilo

By Herbert Vego

 

WHATEVER is on the mind of billionaire Enrique Razon Jr. in offering to fund the development of a grassy, reclaimed portion of Nayong Pilipino in Parañaque City into a mega vaccination center should be taken in its altruistic context.

While the resignation of Nayong Pilipino Foundation (NPF) Executive Director Lucille Malilong-Isberto has been cited in protest against the alleged consequential uprooting of 500 ipil-ipil trees, Mr. Razon stands pat on his claim that only tall grasses or talahib dominate the site.

I agree. If there are trees that could not be seen from a distance for being still small seedlings, they could be replanted around the proposed vaccination center.

Mr. Razon, 61, has not specified the amount his ICTSI Foundation would spend for the center, but it could not be just peanuts. The mega-vaccination building with sub-zero temperatures needed to store the vaccines would comfortably accommodate 10,000 individuals per day.

ICTSI Foundation is the corporate social responsibility arm of Razon’s International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI).

What would it profit Razon to fund the project?

To be candid, it is his belief that it could help stop further devastation of the Philippine economy; that mass vaccinations would hasten “herd immunity” against Covid-19. Dying business enterprises in Iloilo would henceforth leap back to life.

You see, Razon is the chairman of the new power distributor in Iloilo City, MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power). With Roel Z. Castro as its president, the company is going full-speed ahead in its modernization program, having replaced Panay Electric Co. (PECO) as the 25-year power-distribution franchisee in the city as per Republic Act 11212

Razon could have already reached out to the ports of Iloilo for bigger and global development projects had the pandemic not struck.

One recalls that Razon flew incognito into Iloilo City on June 28, 2019 to attend the oath-taking ceremonies of Rep. Julienne Baronda and Mayor Jerry P. Treñas at the Iloilo Convention Center.

He motored around the city, awed by the mushrooming malls, hotels, condominiums, subdivisions, and commercial centers. He realized that due to population and vehicular congestion in Metro Manila, our city had become a relocation site, a venue for conventions and a tourist destination.

His company, International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI), is in the business of cargo handling using high-tech harbor equipment to facilitate automated loading and unloading of incoming and outgoing cargoes at cheaper cost.

If it were locally available, Ilonggo importers and exporters would no longer have to transship at the ports of either Cebu or Manila.

The ICTSI is not “international” for nothing. Aside from nine ports in the Philippines (Manila, Subic, Batangas and General Santos City, among others), it also operates in Indonesia, Pakistan, Australia, New Guinea, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Mexico, Honduras, Poland, Georgia, Croatia, Madagascar, Nigeria, Congo and Iraq.

Razon, who also owns the Bloomberry Resorts, is believed to the third richest man in the Philippines. Despite the pandemic, he retains 3^rd spot in Forbes’ billionaires list, what with his wealth jumping by 43.3% to $5 billion (P242.67 billion) in 2021 from $3.4 billion (P165 billion) in 2020.

In a rare TV interview, host Solita “Winnie” Monsod asked Ricky Razon how he became a billionaire.

“Work, work and work,” he answered, adding that he had taken good care of the ports business empire that he had inherited from his father in 1987. “I take risk. I may lose but I recover my losses from earnings of my other ventures.”

The greatest risk Razon took was when he plunked $1.2 billion to build Solaire, the Philippines’ largest casino hotel, with no previous experience in the gaming industry.

Therefore, we have no doubt that, with him around, an economic miracle in the post-Covid era would boost Iloilo into global industrialization. –(hvego@yahoo.com)