‘Team Megawide’ hits back
It seems the Megawide-GMR consortium has finally decided to fight back, after several weeks of being on the receiving end of a pro-Filinvest-Changi media campaign over the Mactan Cebu International Airport project.
And naturally, the subject of Megawide’s first salvo is the lawmaker who has been at the forefront of criticisms against the P17.5-billion airport terminal deal, Sen. Serge Osmeña.
According to the pro-Megawide grapevine, the root of the senator’s animosity toward the Megawide-GMR consortium lies in his ties with the Filinvest group. Or more specifically, that of his brother, former Cebu City Mayor Tommy Osmeña.
According to one anti-Filinvest document circulated last week, the former Cebu City mayor and Filinvest sealed a deal in 2010 known as the Citta de Mare project at the South Road Properties (SRP), which involved the construction by Filinvest of six medium-rise residential buildings and a four-hectare park on the SRP.
“Under the deal, Filinvest was to pay the Cebu City government P1 billion, including P500 million by the end of 2013 as the city government’s 10-percent share in the gross proceeds of the condominium units’ sale at Citta de Mare,” the document said.
Since then, however, Filinvest has not paid the city government the full amount despite several demand letters sent by the new mayor, Michael Rama. So far, Filinvest has only paid the Cebu government P159 million, and the pro-Megawide, anti-Osmeña camp believes Filinvest is sitting on the money while waiting for the return of the Osmeña family to power in Cebu.
Interesting angle. But with the stakes getting bigger by the day, don’t expect this to be the last word on the issue. Daxim L. Lucas
Betting on 2016
With the next presidential elections not too far away, many big financial backers seem ready to bet heavily on the current vice president and long-time Makati mayor, Jejomar Binay, to be the country’s next CEO. That’s in the perceived absence of any strong contender from the ruling Liberal Party at this time.
After all, Binay has consistently enjoyed high trust ratings and proven the strength of his “brand” in a social experiment that successfully catapulted another Binay to the legislature last year.
But what if opposition votes are divided? There’s a rising theory (based on his recent actions) among some folks that former President Estrada, now mayor of the City of Manila, is considering to run for president again. This is apparently to achieve, among others, the redemption of the Estrada name after being ousted in office during his term [via People Power 2] and especially now that son Jinggoy—whom many expect to be the vice presidential running mate of Binay—is embroiled in the pork barrel scandal. Also, industry sources said that Erap (earlier convicted of plunder, but was immediately pardoned) has a big war chest if and when he decides to go for it again.
One formula circulating in town —whether or not sanctioned by Erap himself—is for Binay to slide down to VP in exchange for Erap stepping down two years during the term to give way to Binay who can afterwards reign in the remaining four years and seek a fresh six-year term (beating the length of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s nine-year presidency). But Binay—who obviously must be thinking it’s now or never for him—is not expected to accept this formula.
In any case, if and when Erap runs for President for the third time (remember, he finished second to Aquino in the 2010 race), it’s seen as a game-changer during the run-up to the 2016 elections. Doris C. Dumlao
‘Not interested’
The transportation department has unveiled an ambitious list of ever larger train deals last week but bidders, supportive as they are of the government, still have a major concern over one upcoming railway PPP deal, the extension of the Light Rail Transit Line 1 to Bacoor, Cavite.
With the rebidding deadline (the first auction failed last year) set on April 28, bidders feel the transportation department has left out a crucial detail, which is where the common station linking LRT-1, MRT-3 and eventually MRT-7 would be located.
Even the merits of its final location in Quezon City, whether SM North Edsa or the Ayala Group’s Trinoma shopping mall, seems less important nowadays. What matters to bidders is having a final location—this apparently would have significant implications on operating strategies and cost parameters of the bid.
This wasn’t a problem as recently as two weeks ago when the assumption was the common station would be located in Trinoma, despite the SM Group owning naming rights to the station. The DOTC had said publicly that the Trinoma station was ideal and was cheaper by P1 billion.
But transportation department officials were singing a different tune last week, saying that both locations were still being considered and no final decision has been reached. We are not sure what prompted this, but we’ve heard the decision to locate the station in Trinoma has drawn some raised eyebrows among lawmakers.
“It is confusing to bidders,” said Ferdinand Inacay, vice president for business development at Metro Pacific Investments. Metro Pacific has a strategic alliance with Ayala Corp. for railways.
Moreover, timing was an issue as bidders need to be informed of the final location 30 to 45 days ahead of the bid submission to prepare, Inacay said. With the deadline a month away, this would make it increasingly difficult to prepare, he added.
Incidentally, Metro Pacific-Ayala would seek a deferral of the April 28 deadline, Inacay said, joining other bidders. The development comes as some within the private sector have shown increasing skepticism over the department’s PPP deals, which are growing more complicated and expensive.
Unveiled in last week’s roadshow were a P135-billion Metro Manila subway and a P284-billion Bulacan-Laguna commuter train, which make the P65-billion LRT-1 to Cavite extension look small.
We still believe the projects are crucial and would do much to ease worsening traffic conditions in urban areas. But not everyone is impressed. One group, a major conglomerate we will not name, of course, said they would not even bother considering these new deals.
“Impossible. No chance they can make it happen,” this group said. Miguel R. Camus
ATM capture
Given the rising incidence of ATM fraud in the country, banks are beefing up their electronic security settings, but some clients have complained being caught off-guard and hassled by “random” ATM capture.
For Banco de Oro ATM card users who have experienced cancellation of withdrawal transactions and sudden card capture, this is due to BDO’s system that blocks any BDO ATM debit or cash card previously used in point-of-sale (POS) merchant terminals (those small swiping gadgets in stores or service outlets) that are flagged as “hotspots.”
While banks have more control over their own ATM machines, they can’t dictate on the merchants, which means that POS terminals across the country can’t be expected to be upgraded overnight (although one affected user points out that if such terminals had already been detected as “compromised,” then they should be shut down right away).
In the case of BDO, the bank said that the immediate blocking of any compromised card was necessary to prevent any unauthorized use of data. Once the card has been blocked, it will be captured automatically when used at any BDO ATM. All cards blocked due to possible card data compromise will be replaced with a new card bearing a new card number. Affected cardholders have to claim replacement cards from their branches. For payroll cash cards, delivery will depend on the arrangement with the payroll company.
For affected customers who are in immediate need of cash, they can either withdraw over the counter or get a generic ATM debit or cash card to have immediate access.
But for the personalized card, the user has to wait for three to five banking days for the replacement. For details, BDO requests clients to check out https://www.bdo.com.ph/bdo-debit-cash-card-safety-tips. Doris C. Dumlao
RFO at GRI
The man can’t stop working.
We learned that Roberto F. de Ocampo (a.k.a. “RFO”), the current chair of Philippine Veterans Bank and former secretary of finance, was just elected and inducted to the board of directors of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).
GRI is a global proponent and authority in sustainability reporting, which is increasingly becoming an integral part of good corporate governance. It pioneered and developed a comprehensive Sustainability Reporting Framework that is widely used around the world.
The institute’s mission is to make sustainability reporting standard practice for all companies and organizations as it promotes a reporting system that provides metrics and methods for measuring and reporting sustainability-related impacts and performance.
A sustainability report is a document published by a company or organization about the economic, environmental and social impacts caused by its everyday activities. It also presents an organization’s values and governance model, and demonstrates the link between its strategy and its commitment to a sustainable global economy.
More importantly, we’re told that RFO is the first from Asean—and definitely the first Filipino—ever to be elected to GRI’s board. Good job. Daxim L. Lucas
DMCI Homes’ taxes
Their business is booming and so are their tax payments.
Biz Buzz learned recently that DMCI Homes was among 10 companies that received the 2013 Billionaires’ Club Award from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for paying more than P1 billion in taxes last year.
DMCI Homes and other companies paid P755.23 billion in taxes last year through the BIR’s Large Taxpayer Service. The figure, which was 15.98-percent higher than the LTS’ tax collection in 2012, represented more than 60 percent of the BIR’s total 2013 tax collection target of P1.22 trillion.
The developer of resort-themed residential condominium communities was the only real estate company among the awardees. And to think, it was only last year that DMCI Homes’ tax payment reached P1 billion and the company was bumped up by the BIR to its large taxpayer category.
Indeed—under the eagle eyes of BIR chief Kim Henares, everyone wants to be a top taxpayer. Understandably so. Daxim L. Lucas
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