Biz Buzz: Lifestyle mystery
What’s this we hear that the head of one government agency lives in the penthouse of a fancy Makati City apartment building?
And, mind you, according to our sources, this agency head’s residence isn’t just one unit of the building’s penthouse floor, but the whole penthouse floor.
We’re impressed.
Never mind the fact that the association dues of the building—given the size of the unit being occupied—far exceed the monthly salary of the agency head. Who knows? Maybe this person is independently wealthy.
But wait. We’re told that the net worth of this agency head has ballooned from only P30 million to P50 million over a two-year period. Nice.
Maybe this person has a keen eye for making a killing in investments. Or maybe there are other secret reasons. Who knows?
But hang on. A penthouse unit in that fancy apartment building is already worth more than P50 million, given its location. Just renting, perhaps? Who knows?
In any case, there are clearly questions to be answered given the information declared in the statement of assets, liabilities and net worth of this agency.
Will it withstand closer scrutiny? Maybe this agency head has a generous benefactor who permits a lifestyle beyond one’s means.
Too bad this government agency isn’t exactly famous for its stellar performance or meeting targets that it set for itself.
Well, who knows, indeed? —Daxim L. Lucas
‘Villarroyo’ creator joins Team Duterte
Any doubts about Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s intention to run for higher public office—like the presidency—can now be put to rest, according to a reliable Biz Buzz source.
This source revealed that the outspoken, hard-hitting, motorcycle riding, gun-toting mayor has given his exploratory campaign team a big boost with the recent hiring of a major political operator.
And, mind you, this man isn’t just any political operator.
We’re told that Mayor Rody (‘Rody’, short for Rodrigo … long before the national press dubbed him ‘Rudy’) has hired no less than the man who was responsible for the highly successful “Villarroyo” smear campaign in 2010 against then presidential candidate Senator Manuel Villar.
To recall, the Villarroyo campaign was meant to impress on the voting public that Senator Villar was the true candidate quietly endorsed and supported by then President Arroyo.
The effect on Villar’s candidacy was devastating as he soon lost his Number One poll ranking to then Senator Benigno Aquino III. The rest is history.
It remains unclear what trick this political operator will pull for Duterte out of his hat, but it may be worth waiting for.
For now, Mr. Political Operator has reportedly been contacting his financiers in the business community, in a bid to raise money for a potential Duterte candidacy (which, if past experience is any indication, will easily run in the billions of pesos).
Mr. Political Operator’s sales pitch to the business community, of course, is that Duterte is a more winnable alternative to Vice President Jejomar Binay than Senator Grace Poe.
Will this sales pitch work on the business community? It depends. The taipans and tycoons are closely watching the poll numbers, we’re told. Watch this space, people. —Daxim L. Lucas
Fair and square at GSIS
The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) on Tuesday stressed that its current management “always upheld transparency in its business transactions, including reinsurance, through a fair, open and competitive bidding process in full compliance” of the Government Procurement Law (RA 9184).
No less than GSIS president and general manager Robert Vergara wrote Biz Buzz to assure us that our fears about an insider rigging contracts in favor of one large reinsurance firm are without basis.
Vergara pointed out that the GSIS insurance bids and awards committee (Gibac) oversees the procurement of reinsurance support for GSIS accounts to ensure compliance with the law.
“The invitations-to-bid, bid bulletins and notices of award are posted on the GSIS website. Pre-bid conferences and opening of bids are conducted with representatives from the Commission on Audit, the Internal Audit Services Office and external parties, such as the Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association (Pira) and the bidders witnessing the process,” he said. “The bid opening is also recorded and covered by video for documentation purposes.”
No accounts were auctioned off in 2010. There were eight in 2011, 52 in 2012, 41 in 2013, and 36 in 2014.
He also stressed that more insurance companies are now participating in the public bidding: Charter Ping An, Federal Phoenix Assurance Co., Malayan Insurance Co., Mapfre Insular Insurance Co., Prudential Guarantee Assurance and UCPB General Insurance.
Other local insurance companies and foreign reinsurance companies may also participate as retrocessionaires, or reinsurance support of the companies directly bidding for GSIS accounts.
“As a result of the open and competitive bidding, the total savings generated for the national government from lower premiums amounted to nearly P2 billion from 2010 levels,” he said.
“I extend my earnest assurance to our stakeholders that GSIS is fully committed to protect the integrity of its bidding process by ensuring that it is transparent, open, competitive and compliant with the government procurement law,” Vergara added.
Well and good. Hopefully, we’ll hear no more complaints from insurance firms who feel left out of the game, henceforth. —Daxim L. Lucas
Power shortage, for real
So we’re now in the third week of April, and that power shortage scare that some officials of the Aquino administration has failed to materialize.
To recall, some government officials went to town late last year and early this year predicting that the country—Luzon, specifically—would be hit by an electricity shortage this month due to a surge in supply and tightness in supply from power generation firms.
The bottom line of this “scare tactic,” if critics were to be believed, was that the administration needed more funds from Congress to avert a crippling power shortage during the hot Philippine summer.
Well, the so-called critical period has come and gone, and whether the absence of any major power outages was due to measures implemented by the government is debatable.
However, an industry source with knowledge of the country’s power supply situation told Biz Buzz that the country isn’t out of the woods yet. According to our source, there will be a two- or three-day period in mid-May (that’s just a few weeks away) when the country will experience an unusually tight supply of power with almost no reserves available.
If true, that will constitute a real crisis and not an artificial one. That might be worth bracing for.–Daxim L. Lucas
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