The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
It might as well be called Better Philippines the way the dredging operation is improving the environment, the economy, and, of course, the lives of people.
Better Rivers PH, a brainchild of Ramon S. Ang, San Miguel CEO and chairman, is working quietly to rehabilitate rivers and creeks in Metro Manila and in the provinces of Bulacan, Pampanga, and Laguna.
In Metro Manila, Better Rivers PH made its full might bear on Parañaque City, removing more than 139,153 tons of silt and solid waste from the waterways surrounding Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
The river cleanup is conducted by New NAIA Infra Corp. (NNIC), a subsidiary of San Miguel Corp, which has won the contract to modernize the country’s premier gateway to the world.
San Miguel Corp. has already made a P30-billion upfront payment to the government, as stipulated in the NAIA contract.
The question thus arises. Does San Miguel take on the challenge to protect its investments?
Also, through Better Rivers PH, San Miguel has dredged the rivers of Bulacan.
It is no coincidence that San Miguel is constructing New Manila International Airport in Bulacan, alternatively called the San Miguel Aerocity. Occupying a 2,500-hectare property, it is projected to serve 100 million passengers a year when completed three years hence.
To reinstate the question. Is San Miguel merely protecting its investments in NMIA as well as in NAIA?
That may be the case, but then Better Rivers PH, has spent at least a billion pesos dredging the Tullahan River, which starts in La Mesa Reservoir in Quezon City, meanders through Caloocan, Malabon, Valenzuela, and Navotas, before emptying itself into the Manila Bay.
There are no economic benefits for San Miguel Corp. in the Tullahan River rehabilitation project. Not in the Pasig River rehabilitation project either.
Because of Better Rivers PH, the Pasig River Ferry System has become a viable proposition for the first time. Now air-conditioned vessels, seating 50 passengers each, ply the waters, picking up passengers at 17 stations in Manila, Makati, Mandaluyong, Pasig, Marikina, and Taguig.
The Pasig River Esplanade, which opened in January last year, was built by the government, but it was Better Rivers PH that made it all possible.
San Miguel Corp., through Better Rivers PH, has restored Pampanga River to its normal depths as well and cleared up all the waterways around Laguna Lake.
According to Mr. Ang, the massive undertaking has resulted in the removal of 8,248,254 tons of muck, “at no cost to the government.”
Except for the activities around NAIA in Parañaque and NMIA in Bulacan, San Miguel has no financial interest in the dredging operation. It is taking corporate social responsibility to new heights, and that is reward enough.