By Diego Morra
When more than 4,000 University of the Philippines Diliman (UP Diliman) and thousands more in UP Manila walked out of their classes to protest the plunder of people’s money through bogus, substandard and overpriced flood control projects (FCPs) implemented by 15 top contractors favored by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and selected by congressmen and senators, they might as well have protested the sweetheart deal “won” by the San Miguel Corp.-SAP consortium to operate the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) for the next 15 years and perhaps extend it for another 10 years.
Yes, the walkout happened on September 12, 2015, just as the Ugnayan ng mga Lumalaban sa Airport Privatization (ULAP) was holding a press briefing at the UP Hotel in Area 1. The new network convened by lawyer Rico V. Domingo included the Movement Against Disinformation, the Makabayan Coalition, Negosyo Advocates, PARA Commuters’ Network and SUKI Network, with more members joining in the coming weeks as the movement to combat graft and corruption gathers momentum nationwide.
Moreover, the Filipino people have been roused from their slumber to demand as well a total, consistent campaign to recover all the resources plundered from the national coffers, including the conservatively estimated $10-billion ill-gotten Marcos wealth. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., now has the platinum chance to tell 116 million Filipinos that he is sorry for the plunder committed by his old man and his mom Imelda during the conjugal dictatorship that officially spanned 1972 to 1986.
Include the money grabbed from the national budget by Pharmally during the Covid-19 pandemic and money wasted for vaccines, face masks, face shields monopolized by an entitled family in Davao City during the unlamented Rodrigo Duterte administration, which caused the national debt to zoom by P6.84 trillion, surpassing the combined borrowings of previous administrations from Marcos Sr., with P365 billion, Cory Aquino at P372 billion, Fidel Ramos with P681 billion, Joseph Estrada’s P766 billion, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo at P2.4 trillion and Noynoy Aquino with P1.37 trillion. At the start of the Marcos Jr. administration, the country’s debt stood at P12.79-trillion, meaning the Duterte regime was solely responsible for a borrowing spree, as if there would be no tomorrow.
By April 30, 2025, the national government’s total outstanding debt stood at P16.75 trillion, meaning the current regime added P3.96-trillion to the debt, or roughly P101.53 billion debt per month in its 30-month incumbency. It should not be a source of pride since it means the administration cannot finance its operations, with hot money flying the coop and even the stock market losing P12-trillion in value after flood control projects scandal worsened the country’s inclement political weather. Sara Duterte should not have asked where the national debt went. His dad knows, Bong Go knows, Michael Yang, whereabouts unknown, genuinely knows.
Inasmuch as Marcos Jr. appears to truly grieve about the fiscal impunity, he might as well subject all PPP projects to serious scrutiny, and this exactly what ULAP is demanding. It was the same complaint lodged before the Supreme Court (SC) by legal eagles led by Dean Sol Deriquito Mawis, Dean Antonio La Vina, lawyer Joel Butuyan and other who filed a 182-petition questioning the award of the NAIA management to Ramon Ang’s SMC-SAP Consortium via a whirlwind courtship of 47 days. Before that, two original proponents were struck out of the NAIA deal, and one who persisted got another blackeye as its proposal offered a lower revenue share to the government. It didn’t matter to the Marcos Jr. administration that Ramon Ang already owns a *warren of expressways and toll roads that lead to NAIA and also to the much-criticized New Manila International Airport (NMIA) in Bulakan, Bulacan, otherwise known as Bulacan Aerotropolis project is slated to be the alternative airport to decongest NAIA and serve millions of passengers in the Greater Capital Region (GCR).
SMC operates the Skyway System, Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX), Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR), and the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) – all major entry and exit points to the GCR. Another toll road it operates, the NAIA Expressway (NAIAX), connects the Skyway system to NAIA’s four terminals and to the Entertainment City. SMC also manages the Autosweep RFID system. SMC is also the concessionaire for the Metro Rail Transit 7 (MRT 7), which will take an eternity to complete before connecting the MRT-3 line to San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan, with an additional connecting highway from the MRT-7 SJDM station to the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX.) Thus, travelers will pay Ramon Ang several times before they set foot at NAIA. He has become the expressway czar on top of being the operator of both NAIA and NMIA, meaning the Marcos regime has a difficult relationship with the idea that competition, rather than monopoly control, keeps the prices of goods and services low.
On July 7, 2025, ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio and Kabataan Rep. Renee Co filed House Resolution No. 2316 seeking an inquiry into the grant of a concession agreement to Ang and his partners. “The purported issues in the NAIA Public Private Partnership Project that span from the fast-tracked approval of the proposal, irregularities in the submission of documents, limited timeline for bidding process, non-consultative approval and implementation of airport fee increases, and cancellation of the procurement process, altogether warrant a close investigation on the privatization of NAIA,” the resolution reads. The Makabayan bloc emphasized the direct effect of privatization of public transport to the Filipino people as fees will increase. They reiterated that public services should be managed and operated by the state and should not be handed over to private companies, which prioritize profit. The bloc has just added Gabriela Rep. Sarah Elago as member after the Comelec kicked out the Duterte Youth from Congress and apportioned three seats to other party lists. #
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WORD FOR THE DAY: Warren – among others, a maze of passageways or roads.