THE THIRD richest man in the country, Enrique K. Razon Jr., might have heard of the “leveling up” strategy of Mayor Jerry P. Treñas. And so he wants to be a part of it.
Razon, 59, the world-class tycoon who is now worth US $5.3 billion, spent an entire day quietly in Iloilo City on June 28 to be at the inauguration of the newly elected city officials – Mayor Treñas, Cong. Julienne “Jam-jam” Baronda and Vice Mayor Jeffrey Ganzon – at the Iloilo Convention Center in the morning, and of Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. and other provincial officials at the provincial capitol in the afternoon.
In both occasions, he opted to remain seated with ordinary mortals like this writer in the audience. One could only guess that he would also spend quite moments with the mayor and the governor later in the day to discuss his ongoing and forthcoming business proposals.
Every Ilonggo must have already heard of Razon, the businessman behind MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power), which is taking over from Panay Electric Co. (PECO) as new 25-year franchisee to distribute electricity in the city.
He is also interested in expanding his port-operation business to the city and province of Iloilo. But first, who is Enrique Razon, Jr.?
Since this entire column would not be enough to enumerate the names of all his businesses, suffice it to say that Enrique Anselmo Klar Razon Jr. is a Filipino billionaire and the chairman of the International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI), the Philippine port-handling giant; and of the world-class Solaire Casino and Resort in Manila.
During a TV interview, host Solita “Winnie” Monsod asked him how he became a billionaire.
“Work, work and work,” he answered, insinuating that he had taken care of the ports business empire that he had inherited from his father in 1987 to become the largest corporation providing container-port terminal services in Manila, Subic, Batangas, General Santos City; and abroad in Poland, Brazil, Mexico, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.
“Yes, I take risk,” he answered Winnie’s question. “I may lose but I recover my losses from earnings of my other ventures.”
The greatest risk Razon took was when he plunked $1.2 billion to build Solaire in Manila, the Philippines’ largest casino hotel, with no previous experience in the gaming industry. He relied more on gut feeling, knowing that high rollers from around the world had been coming to the Philippines to play in the government-owned casinos.
It was also gut feeling that pushed him to apply for a 25-year franchise to distribute electricity in Iloilo City. A number of congressmen, irked by complaints against PECO over poor services and overbillings, sponsored the bill granting it to his new company, MORE Power. President Duterte signed the bill into law (Republic Act 11212) on Feb. 14, 2019.
He had no second thoughts in appointing Roel Z. Castro as president and chief executive officer of the new company. Castro had done a good job holding the same posts at Palm Concepcion Power Corp., a coal-fired power plant in Concepcion, Iloilo.
The transition from PECO to MORE Power, to the dismay of disgruntled power consumers, has unfortunately been delayed due to pending court cases as regards expropriation of power lines, office building and other facilities.
Already, however, MORE Power has recruited its own personnel and has set aside P481,842,450 in the bank as compensation to PECO.
“Maybe not enough,” we heard some people say.
Well, why not? It’s the amount PECO had reported in its tax declaration! (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
