Get yourself a copy of Rigoberto Tiglao’s book, “Colossal Deception- How foreigners control our telecoms sector.”
The book, as its front cover states, is “a case study of corruption, cronyism and regulatory capture in the Philippines.”
The book benefits from Tiglao’s experience as journalist (Business Day and Far Eastern Economic Review) as he pierced through the corporate layers to see who is really behind what we think is Manuel V. Pangilinan’s expanding empire.
Tiglao said, his book, “ tells how an Indonesian magnate built up a new business empire outside his country in just 18 years – dwarfing others owned by Filipino magnates – and why a foreigner has been allowed to do so by Philippine authorities despite the clear constitutional restrictions on foreign control.”
The Indonesian is Anthoni Salim – a name that most Filipinos have not heard of.
Tiglao said Salim “ has never been seen in public here, if ever he had stepped on Philippine soil.”
“ Yet his conglomerate in the country consists of public utility enterprises in which the Constitution bars foreigners from controlling,” the author said.