Governments everywhere are not competitive to run a business concern. More so in the Philippines where there is corruption everywhere, from the usual bureaucracy to government corporations. So the government’s plan to take over the operation of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Philippines must be a joke.
In the first place, the firm has been declared bankrupt (to prevent creditors from getting hold of its assets) and is now under rehabilitation. But of course the government can buy the assets of the company and operate these. How we wish the funds allotted for the pork barrel of politicians will be used for this purpose. At least the employment of around 3,000 Filipinos would be saved. But let us not expect any efficient operation. Instead, expect the opposite. The company’s ranks would be filled with people who were hired only due to political considerations, not ability or competence.
For it to make any profit would be a pie in the sky. It will always be operating at a loss and for it to keep going, the people’s taxes would have to be used. In the end, it would have been better had the government not taken any interest in the company.
Then there is the allegation of Senator Trillanes that the government’s plan to take over Hanjin is just a ploy for it to be later handed out in a privatization process to the cronies of those in power. Could be.
There is also the proposal of some Chinese companies (they are usually owned by the government) to take over the company. Justice Antonio Carpio is vocally opposed to this. According to him it would be like inviting to your house somebody who wants to take control of your household forever and ever. He cited the attempts of the Chinese (did they not gain total control already?) to gain control of the Scarborough Shoal.
These assertions are all possibilities and they are all not good for us. So why not just let the corporate rehabilitation of the company continue? It just might bounce back.**