Biz Buzz: Mar’s man at SEC

After the appointment of Ephyro Luis Amatong as new commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission—an agency under the supervision of the Department of Finance—another new commissioner will be named soon, this time to take over the post of Commissioner Juanita Cueto, who has finished two terms at the corporate watchdog. Cueto was first appointed to the SEC en banc on June 5, 2001.

Government sources confirmed that Cueto’s successor is Blas James Viterbo, a corporate lawyer and director at the state-owned Development Bank of the Philippines. He was former senator Mar Roxas’ chief-of-staff and the legal counsel of the Senate committee on trade and commerce.

Viterbo has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Accountancy and Law from the University of the Philippines. Doris C. Dumlao

PNB’s new president

Stockholders of tycoon Lucio Tan-led Philippine National Bank gave veteran banker Omar Byron Mier a standing ovation Tuesday as he retired as president of the bank for the second time around.

The PNB board thanked Mier for his “12 years of dedicated and fruitful service to the bank.” Under Mier’s leadership, PNB transitioned into a fully private bank in 2007, reduced its stock of bad loan and paid a P6.1-billion debt to the state-owned Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. ahead of maturity.

As expected, Mier was succeeded by Reynaldo Maclang, one of the four ex-bank presidents in PNB’s board. Why Maclang? LT Group Inc. president Michael Tan said he was a “seasoned banker” and one who was familiar with both PNB and Allied Bank, which have merged with PNB as the surviving entity.

Maclang, 75, holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the Ateneo de Manila University. He has been with Allied Bank since 1977 and was formerly a longtime president of both Allied Savings Bank (1986 to 2001) and Allied Bank (2001-2009.)

Apart from his wealth of experience as a banker, other sources said Maclang enjoyed Kapitan’s confidence. He is also described as having an unwavering loyalty to the group, which is probably why he has agreed to lead the merged bank despite being past retirement age. Best of all, they said Maclang–as a professional banker–was one who knew how to navigate through the “complicated dynamics” of the LT group. A former president of PNB, Federico Pascual, also joined the board of PNB. Doris C. Dumlao

Water under the bridge

Former rivals in the 2010 bidding for the 218-megawatt component of the 246-MW Angat hydroelectric power plant in Bulacan, the Lopez Group included, seem to be coming full circle, poised to work together to get the project flowing.

The arrangements, however, will likely firm up only after the government actually turns over the project to the winning bidder.

Federico R. Lopez, chair of First Philippine Holdings Corp. and its power unit First Gen Corp., said in an interview that his group was having initial talks with winning bidder K-water Resources Corp. of Korea and San Miguel Corp. on the possibility of a three-way joint venture.

“We’re talking and I guess they’re probably going to get it awarded at some point, and then we can commence due diligence,” Lopez said.

If the three-way venture pushes through, it would probably be First Gen participating, Lopez said. As to the timing, there is market speculation of a turnover next month, but it seems the prospective operators still needed to finalize documentation.

In the April 2010 tender for the 218-MW Angat power plant contract, K-Water trumped some of the biggest power players in the country: First Gen Northern Energy Corp. (the second-highest bidder), San Miguel, SN Aboitiz Power-Pangasinan Inc., Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. and DMCI Power Corp. Riza T. Olchondra

Business as usual

As far as trade and investments are concerned, the Philippines and China are on good and highly agreeable terms.

Trade officials—when asked if the country had some specific game plan to attract more Chinese firms —were quick to quip that political and security issues aside, the Philippines has already been receiving a fair share of the Chinese trade, investments and even tourist arrivals, which surged 60 percent last year compared to 2012 arrivals.

Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo went as far as to say that the territorial disputes and tensions with China have “no noticeable effect” on their side given the increasing activities relating to the boosting of economic ties of the two countries.

Over the past months, the Philippines has reportedly seen a further increase in tourist arrivals, trade numbers and even investments, although some of these were being coursed through Hong Kong. There are about two or three Chinese firms that are now seriously considering to locate in the Philippines and set up their facilities here.

It seems it’s business as usual. Amy R. Remo

Top-tier side show

They hosted a couple of side events for last week’s World Economic Forum (WEF) for East Asia, but the activities organized by the local unit of KPMG could have been part of the main show, judging by their guest list.

At the luncheon for the Asean Finance Ministers’ Investor Seminar, KPMG Philippines was able to assemble a cross section of high-powered bankers, businessmen and government officials. These included Finance Secretary Purisima (under whom KPMG Philippines COO Noel Bonoan served at SGV & Co.), Bangko Sentral Gov. Amando Tetangco Jr. Philippine Stock Exchange chair Jose Pardo and US Ambassador to the Asian Development Bank Robert Orr, among others.

All eyes were on BIR chief Kim Henares, given the presence of so many bankers at the Tower Club event.

However, Henares’ supposed uncomfortable relationship with the bankers was nowhere in sight, thanks in part to the smooth-talking Bonoan, who helped ensure that she was welcomed by the group, which included BPI president Cezar Consing and RCBC chief Lorenzo Tan.

Other notables in attendance were KPMG Philippines chair Roberto Manabat and Double Dragon partner Edgar “Injap” Sia.

However, KPMG’s high-powered forum among international aid donors the next day almost ran into trouble. The moderator whom they booked (a high profile broadcast TV personality) at the suggestion of the Department of Finance cancelled at practically the last minute, prompting organizers to scramble for a replacement.

We heard the organizers were not too convinced with the reason given by the original moderator for backing out, but decided to make no fuss about it.

To KPMG’s relief, the replacement they chose proved more adept at moderating the discussion. The event turned out to be a success, we heard. Whew. Daxim L. Lucas

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