SM and Benitez

At the start of the plan to lease or sell the Capitol lot, the name of Rep. Alfredo Benitez of the 3 rd District of Negros Occidental was prominent. He was reported to have initiated presentation to Governor Alfredo Marañon of the proposal for SM Prime Holdings to buy this lot. Aside from the billions that SM would pay to the province, there was nothing much about what SM intends to do with the land.

It is not really correct, that is, that Benitez and SM started the whole process because months prior to the news of Benitez and SM proposal, there were other proposals to Gov. Alfredo Marañon, Jr. but that is now beside the point.

I would like to point this out because the lawyers of SM during the press conference at the Negros Press Club when SM lost the bid claimed they have the prior right because they offered first.

That is, of course, preposterous because the issue is not who offered first, but who won the bid. To put it mildly not all first suitors are accepted; late comers also get the lady's assent to marriage. The case of the lease and sale of the Capitol lots is not a first come, first served basis but who has the best offer.

Ayala Land Inc. presented to the public its development plan; SM had not, at least, not as detailed as that of ALI. We know SM will construct this and that but nothing more.

Months back I did not take seriously the information that more than just accommodating the richest man in the Philippines as most congressmen would, Benitez has business and financial interests in SM Prime Holdings getting the Capitol lot.

One of the issues raised against Benitez during the last election is that he is a “gambling lord”, a pejorative phrase, but that does not hold true anymore because gambling has been legalized although the Church continues to oppose this law.

Be that as it may, Benitez was elected, indicating that the issue against him did not impact on the choice of the people of that district.

Taking this view then, what is wrong with Benitez being engaged in big time gambling? Legally nothing, but many questioned the moral aspect of it. Anyway, let us leave this to one's moral values.

This matter would not have come up but for the reported displeasure of the congressman for his pet SM to have lost the bidding. Well, that is understandable because I surmise that SM Prime had banked on Benitez' political clout and closeness to the governor.

Gov. Marañon is a stickler for rules. He had been mayor and congressman several times over and his family had been elected to public offices several times and for so long without any tint of corruption. The reason for this is their strict compliance with the law.

It is not surprising for Governor Marañon to call for a bidding of the lots rather than yield to the temptation to give SM and Benitez the Capitol lots. The rest we all know.

SM, however, must have misjudged the governor; perhaps SM has dealt with so many government offices and functionaries that it was able to get what it wanted. Wealth, after all, is power, and in this country power is beholden to wealth.

Lest we go far afield, let's get back to the subject at hand - the financial and business relationship between SM and Benitez.

Let's put things in perspective. This relationship includes Benitez, SM and its group of companies and the family of the COA chair, Ma. Gracia Pulido-Tan. We know that in the hands of Pulido-Tan rests the decision on the Capitol lots.

The relationships of the three are not social or civil but financial. If SM Prime gets the lot, then Benitez would be financially enriched or benefitted.

There is an elaborate relationship which may or may not have influenced the COA chair to sit on the contract between the province and Ayala Land, that Belle Corporation of SM group of companies admitted is its strong competitor and, in the case of the Capitol lot, its adversary.

In business it is part of corporate life to deny the competitor an edge and the use of power and influence are part of the arsenal of weapons, perhaps like using COA for this purpose. The relationship between SM and COA's chair, as I wrote last week, does not make this possibility farfetched.

I am not saying SM is influencing COA. Let the facts speak for themselves and let people form their own judgment, but the close relationship does not cross out the possibility.

What about our Congressman Albee Benitez? How does he come into the picture , aside from introducing the matter to Marañon? Let's continue next week.*

back to top