Philippines gambles on the nation’s future

The Philippines is looking for entrepreneurs to make it the next major gambling hub with casino and entertainment resorts built in key tourist spots across the Southeast Asian nation.
Canadian companies, some of which are already involved in gaming-based resorts in Asia are expected to make a play for the lucrative projects aimed at pumping much needed cash into the Philippines, described as the poor man of Asia.
The plans to build integrated casino and entertainment resorts in parts of the Philippines have already come under heavy fire from the powerful Catholic Church and local groups.
An “Entertainment City” in Manila to rival boom towns Macau and Singapore is at the heart of the plan and will hopefully be finished by 2014, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) chairman Cristino Naguiat said.
“The casino industry here in the Philippines has a very huge potential in terms of revenues,” Naguiat, who took over as chairman a month ago, said in a published interview.
“We are way behind Macau and Singapore in terms of the casino industry... (but) we would like to be positioned right at the top.”
Naguiat said the government was looking to eventually build integrated casino and entertainment resorts in picturesque Palawan island and Cebu, the nation’s second biggest city.
He said PAGCOR was open to hearing from foreign players interested in building entertainment resorts around the Philippines.
“We would like to receive their proposals with regards to this,” he said.
But Naguiat emphasised only proposals that incorporated other entertainment aspects aside from gambling, such as amusement centres and museums, would be considered.
“It has to be an integrated resort, not just a casino and a hotel,” he said.
Like many other Asian gambling industries, the Philippines is keen to tap into the lucrative mainland Chinese market. “We are maybe not even getting 0.01 percent of what is the potential market there,” Naguiat said.
In China, Vietnam, Philippines, Korea, Cambodia and many other Asian countries gambling has become a kind of hidden epidemic, especially among people of Chinese origin. Many Chinese consider gambling as an accepted practice at home and at social events, even among the young. Some Chinese youths often gamble for money with their aunts, uncles and grandparents. Many Chinese are fascinated by the mystical qualities of luck, fate and chance. Though gambling is restricted in most of China, Macau---a part of China---has overtaken Las Vegas as the world’s largest gambling market.
Numerology also plays a crucial role in many Asian cultures in gambling and many crucial decisions resulting in unnecessary drainage of resources that could otherwise have been saved if people were not so blind about numbers bearing fortunes or anathemas.
The plan to cash in on gambling has triggered protests across the Philippines.
In Manila Bay where the massive “entertainment city” project is expected to rise, a militant alliance of small fishermen have asked the influential Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to join forces with them to stop the US$557 million project.
In a press statement, the activist fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) appealed to the 117 archbishops and bishops of the CBCP to coalesce with the fisherfolk and other affected people in Manila Bay in the fight of what it called the Las Vegas-nization of the country.
“We ask our archbishops and bishops to join the Manila Bay coastal people in their legit and just struggle against those evil forces who want to make this country the gambling capital of Asia to the detriment of coastal people and the bay environment,” said Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap.
In a statement Bloombury Investments Holdings Inc. which was acquired by port operator Enrique Razon Jr. said it had broken ground for the construction of Solaire, an integrated resort complex that includes a five-star, 500-room hotel on a 165,000-square-meter land.
According to Bloombury, aside from catapulting the Philippines into becoming a key player in the tourism, hospitality and entertainment industries, the project will make Filipinos proud for having a world class leisure hub that will showcase the best that the country can offer. It said the entertainment city will rival leisure hubs in the region such as those in Macau, Malaysia and Singapore.
The project marks Razon’s first venture into the lucrative gaming industry. Razon owns Manila-based global port giant International Container Terminal Services Inc. The Bloombury complex is expected to open by the third quarter of 2012. Total investment in the long term is expected to reach $ 1 billion.
Project proponents said aside from attracting local and foreign visitors, the complex is expected to generate some 2,500 jobs and boost the country’s ancillary service sectors.
“This is ridiculous, very, very ridiculous. Please allow us to inform the bishops that the Supreme Court ruling is clear——-Malacanang should rehabilitate Manila Bay and should not transform the bay into a gambling capital of Asia is contrary to the high court decision,” said Hicap in reference to the Dec. 2008 Supreme Court decision mandating the national government and concerned government agencies to restore Manila Bay back to its historic and proud past.
In the province of Negros Occidental, the Catholic Lay Forum called on the pubic to support all efforts to ensure that the entire diocese is gambling free.
The group said Negrenses should oppose all forms of gambling, including those that have been legalized by the government, saying it is “immoral” and “makes people’s lives miserable as it erodes the moral fiber of our society.”
Small Town Lottery, which is licensed by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, operates in the towns and cities of Negros Occidental despite opposition from the Catholic Church.
Among the many countries in Asia countries which are trying to cash in on gaming revenues is Vietnam, where a  Vancouver-based resort developer – Asian Coast Development Ltd (ACDL) – is behind the US$4.2 billion Ho Tram project.
The multi-property resort complex on 420 acres of land is along 2.2 kilometers of pristine beaches bordering the South China Sea. Located in the Ba Ria -Vung Tau Province of southwest Vietnam, 130 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City, it will be the initial component of the most ambitious tourism complex in Vietnam.