http://http://manilastandardtoday.co...ween-in-april/

Halloween In April

The scare took place last April, but the story bears repeating today, the eve of All Saints’. No spectral beings were involved, although one of the main characters was dressed in a sheet and who was, ironically, the one who was frightened.

Several months back, the Emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, went to Manila for a scheduled two-day state visit. But the Qarati ruler cut short his stay after just spending four hours in the Philippines, most of it spent during a state banquet hosted by President Noynoy Aquino.

Malacañang Palace tried to put the usual positive spin on the abrupt departure of the emir, saying he had to attend an urgent meeting back in his homeland. The truth was much scarier.

The emir had spent some private time with Aquino, a source close to the organizers of the visit told me, during which he made a pitch for more flights by Qatar Airways to Manila to service the lucrative Manila-Middle East market. But Aquino, the source said, cut off the emir and said that this was not possible.

The miffed ruler, whose country supervises the biggest sovereign fund in the world, the Qatar Fund, was surprised that Aquino did not even want to negotiate or promise to look into his proposal. The emir, after all, had the power to approve a $1 billion investment package for the Philippines by the Qatar Fund.

But Aquino would not even consider the proposal, which he dismissed out of hand. And the emir decided that there was simply no more sense in staying any longer in a country that did not want to do business with his rich emirate.

Since January, the Manila government has been working on the creation of a $1.5-billion investment fund package from Qatar and Kuwait, which have expressed interest to invest in the country’s food, security, property, tourism and energy sectors through the supposed flagship Public-Private Partnership program. The Qatar Fund was to have put up $1 billion of that amount to fund projects in the Philippines.

The signing of the $1-billion Qatar Investment Fund Agreement under the Mutual Protection of Investments Agreement and Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement was supposed to highlight the visit of the emir’s visit. Of course, that never happened – and, chances are, it never will while Aquino is President and the emir is the emir.

To be sure, the emir did not expect Aquino to give away air rights to Qatar Air on the spot, during his visit. But had Aquino only used the right language and diplomatically said that he would study the emir’s proposal, it’s a cinch that the Qatar Fund’s investment package for the Philippines would have been approved as scheduled.

And because Qatar’s emir belongs to the powerful and cash-rich clique of rulers of Middle Eastern countries that Aquino and his foreign investment managers so desperately want to woo, it’s also easy to conclude that there will be precious little money coming into Manila from that region soon. And all because Aquino could not even tell the visiting emir that he would look closely into the proposal for more Qatar Air flights to this country.

What good are all those credit rating upgrades, after all, if no investors come because of the difficulty of negotiating with this administration? Even if all the international ratings agencies say that the Philippines is a good place to invest in, the experience of the emir of Qatar – and dissenting opinions like recent World Bank report on how difficult it is to do business in this country – will always give investors pause. Ratings agencies, after all, do not bring in the money that generates jobs, taxes and economic growth.

Investing is still not fun in the Philippines, as the emir of Qatar found out for himself. And if the emir doesn’t scare the wits out of other potential investors from the Arab world, we’re the ones who should be frightened.

* * *

Speaking of that World Bank report, it’s distressing that Malacañang has once again declared that it is not to blame for this sorry situation. Prevaricator-in-chief Edwin Lacierda said that it is the country’s local government units that should be blamed for the Philippines’ slide in the World Bank’s “ease of doing business” rankings, from 136th to 138th.

The lack of concern that Lacierda displayed is one for the books. Even if one assumes that Lacierda is right, well, what is the national government going to do about it?

And if you think that the government isn’t blaming Gloria Macapagal Arroyo anymore, you are mistaken. When a report was released showing that the Philippines was lagging behind in reducing poverty as expressed in the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, the Palace said the previous administration is to blame.

When will Aquino and his minions admit that they are at fault for anything? Probably never.
While Mr. Jojo Robles somehow mostly writes anti-PNoy articles... kung totoo na nangyari yung nabanggit dito.. grabe... ano kaya reason ni PNoy bakit ganun?