Broker shakeout

The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), following up on the probe initiated by the Securities and Exchange Commission when the new administration came to power, is now cracking down on trades of Philex Mining Corp. from 2007 to 2009, or during the period when businessman Roberto V. Ongpin was accused of insider trading, likewise related to Development Bank of the Philippines transactions under question.

Several brokers told Biz Buzz that the AMLC has now served two letters to trading participants at the local stock exchange. The first letter ordered the stockbrokers to report what they deem to be “suspicious” trades of Philex during the period. This summon apparently got a lukewarm response, which was why the AMLC issued another letter requiring the brokers to submit all of their Philex transactions during the period in review—2007, 2008 and 2009.

Whether or not they are fans of RVO (whom people closely associate with the former First Gentleman Mike Arroyo), some stockbrokers see this order to report all Philex transactions during the three-year period to be a logistical nightmare. One broker argues that it will be difficult to retrieve all such files and that AMLC may not even have legal grounds to require it.

Under the law, brokers are required to report suspicious transactions. But once asked to report all transactions, AMLC is effectively defining what is “suspicious.” The sentiment seems common among brokers. “They are going too far with this witchhunt.”

Well, probers have three more years to build their case.  Doris C. Dumlao

Balesin flight mishap

By now, everybody knows about the little mishap on Balesin Island last Saturday when a chartered jet overshot the runway and got its nose stuck on the beach. But what has yet to be revealed are the details of the incident.

According to our source, the four-engined British Aerospace 146 jet—the same type used by the UK’s Royal Flight to fly Queen Elizabeth II around—had made a perfectly normal flight that day from Ninoy Aquino International Airport to the resort island owned by Roberto Ongpin’s Alphaland Corp.

It was an uneventful flight lasting about 30 minutes. But the first sign that something was amiss was when the pilot circled around after missing his first approach.

Note, of course, that the aircraft, operated by local charter airline Skyjet, had been flying the Manila-Balesin route for some time now, having been hired by Alphaland to accommodate the larger number of club members flying in on weekends. On regular days, Alphaland uses its own Cessna Grand Caravans (it has two) and BAe Jetstream turboprops (also two).

“The pilot (who had also flown the route before, according to our source) may have miscalculated his first approach so he circled around,” our source said.

On his second attempt, however, witnesses on the ground said the aircraft touched down near the halfway point of the 1.5-kilometer concrete runway.

The runway is almost twice as long as the present runway in Caticlan, which serves Boracay.

“It’s a long runway, but if you touch down in the middle, you really won’t have enough room to stop in time,” our source said. “You know how it is: The pilot’s confidence level may have been affected by the first missed approach. He may have forced it.” (Pilots have an informal rule of diverting to an alternate airport if they miss their approach on the second attempt.)

Thankfully, none of the 75 passengers and crew on the flight—which included RCBC chair Helen Yuchengco-Dee, RCBC president Lorenzo Tan and Health Secretary Enrique Ona, among other VIPs—were hurt when the plane’s nose came to rest on the surf beyond the runway.

Despite the incident, Balesin’s runway is operational. It remains unclear, however, how they plan to remove the “substantially damaged” aircraft (with its nose crumpled in) from the island … if it can be removed at all.  Daxim L. Lucas

BRT woes

Makati residents and workers looking forward to a private sector proposal to implement a bus rapid transit (BRT) system to decongest Makati City’s Ayala Avenue—meaning no more public jeepneys and buses—would have to wait longer.

It appears that the proposal, submitted in 2011 by a group which includes Makati Commercial Estate Association and the Ayala Group, has effectively stalled.

The proposal was made to the Department of Transportation and Communications, which has been dealing with a lot of bad press lately because of the perceived slow pace of implementing the public-private partnership deals it oversees, notwithstanding the “worst airport” tags on the Internet.

So what’s the holdup this time? Well, it appears both the government and private sector have a hand in it.

Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya noted that the Ayala Group, which developed most of Makati City and thus has the most to gain in any sort of infrastructure improvement, has been pursuing the project less vigorously.

He said that the DOTC is currently studying a mass transit system, like the “MRT” elevated railway or subway in Makati City that would run in the same or similar alignment as the private sector proposal.

Ayala Land president Antonino Aquino confirmed that there is indeed an overlap with the DOTC’s plan.

Aquino told Biz Buzz that while the company remains keen on a BRT, it is still “interested” in the results of the DOTC study because of the overlap.

The question now is, how long will all of this take? We don’t know yet, but one thing is sure: Those buses and jeeps plying Ayala Ave. can rest easy for now.  Miguel R. Camus

Curing ‘under-listing’

The Century Properties Group submitted to the Philippine Stock Exchange a few weeks ago an application to list shares that remain unlisted to date, equivalent to a substantial 63 percent of outstanding stocks, thereby correcting concerns from the local stock exchange on insufficient listing. This puts the ball now in the court of the PSE, which is happy that concerns on this listing backlog may soon be addressed.

To date, only 3.55 billion, or 37 percent, of CPG’s 9.68 billion in outstanding common shares are actually listed on the stock exchange. The rule is that all classes of shares of a public company must be applied for listing, although there’s a gray area on how soon this should be executed, especially for companies that have entered the local bourse through the backdoor.  Doris C. Dumlao

PDEx changing of the guard

The Philippine Dealing System group—the organization that runs the country’s bond exchange—experienced the first change in leadership in its decade-long history after its founding president and CEO Vicente “Teng” Castillo retired a few weeks ago.

In a statement, the group thanked Castillo for his “unquantifiable contributions” to the development of the local capital markets, while simultaneously announcing that the mantle of leadership in the group would pass to his longtime protege Cesar “Jing” Crisol.

We’re told that many in the banking community, especially Castillo’s critics among the tightly knit community of bank treasurers, are grinning quietly at this development. They are at loggerheads with Castillo for the better part of the last decade over the raison d’etre of the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp.

Castillo is described even by his critics to be a “visionary” when it comes to developing capital markets, but also “difficult to work with” because of his short temper and unyielding views.

So, will we be seeing better relations between PDEx and bank treasurers? Only time will tell.  Daxim L. Lucas

Start ’em young

College kids aspiring to be stock wizards have an opportunity to do so through the next edition of Stock X Challenge—an intercollegiate stock trading challenge. The competition is organized by First Metro, in partnership with the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) and the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP).

Now on its fourth year, portfolio management seminars for college kids will start this November ahead of the competition proper in January. The last competition concluded earlier this year gathered about 200 teams from different colleges and universities nationwide. The team from UP Cebu emerged victorious, followed by the team from the University of Santo Tomas and the team from the University of the Philippines-Diliman.  Doris C. Dumlao

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