Biz Buzz: Villar on 2016

His name was among those floated as a potential running mate of presidential aspirant Jejomar Binay, but coming straight from the horse’s mouth, businessman Manuel “Manny” Villar—chair of Vista Land and Lifescapes and also president of the Nacionalista Party (NP)—categorically ruled out joining the 2016 national polls.

Apart from growing property development arm Vista Land and shopping mall arm Starmalls, Villar now enjoys nurturing his group’s retailing ventures under the “All-Day” brand of convenience stores and department stores, as well as one-stop home improvement shop “AllHome.”

In a chat with the business media on Saturday at the storied Laurel mansion on Shaw Blvd. (which has one gallery devoted to the Nacionalista Party), Villar said there were three potential 2016 “presidentiables” among the NP brethren: Senators Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., Alan Peter Cayetano and Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV.

“Everybody will first strive to be president,” Villar said, adding that the first step was to get an aspirant’s name out into the tambiolo (lottery drum) and then decide on the final ticket later.

“The party is not active yet in terms of choosing but the party is solid,” he said. At present, NP’s roster includes five senators (apart from the three “presidentiables” are two women: His wife Cynthia Villar and Pia Cayetano), 27 congressmen, nine governors, 10 vice-governors and close to 300 mayors.

Asked whether NP was now looking to join any political coalition for the next polls, Villar said it was too early for the party to talk about this as it would lead to speculation. Speaking for his own experience (during which he was initially the front-runner for the 2010 presidency), Villar said there could always be game-changers late into the game. In his case, it was the death of former President Cory Aquino, which suddenly thrust Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III a.k.a. P-Noy into the game.

What does he think of Sen. Grace Poe (believed by not a few people to be the only viable alternative to Binay) joining the race? “I don’t know. In 2010, P-Noy wasn’t running until August 2009,” he said. Villar said in jest that one can always change mind and suddenly run for public office and say: “I heard a voice,” “It’s the people’s clamor” or “Kawawa naman ang bayan (poor nation).”

On the proposed charter amendments to ease economic restrictions, Villar—wearing a businessman’s hat—said the Constitution was not like the cast-in-stone 10 commandments. “It can always be amended. Why is it a big deal?” He added: “We can live without [amendments] but it can help.” Doris C. Dumlao

Clark TRO war

A large tract of land adjacent to the Clark International Airport complex is currently in limbo due to a dispute between two corporations involved in the deal. Specifically, we’re talking about the development of the so-called Global Gateway Logistics City (GGLC), which is being built on a 177-hectare site inside the former US air base in Pampanga.

The project was conceived in 2006 by US-based Peregrine Development International, but is actually owned by its (former?) partner Global Gateway Development Corp. (GGDC).

One of the site’s first locators is the Clark unit of The Medical City, which will have 150 beds once completed. In fact, the project is actually 95 percent finished, we understand.

In any case, Peregrine brought in a Kuwaiti group known as KGL a few years ago to fund the project. But last April, GGDC issued a termination notice to Peregrine. A dispute ensued, and the issue was brought to an arbitration court in Singapore. Meanwhile, KGL ceased funding Peregrine’s construction operations, resulting in a work stoppage at the site.

We understand that Peregrine had earlier obtained an injunction from a regional trial court essentially stopping GGDC from kicking it out. GGDC then retaliated by obtaining a Court of Appeals injunction that essentially overruled the pro-Peregrine RTC order.

Despite this, however, it doesn’t look like GGDC has succeeded in “taking over operational control of the project” since Peregrine immediately filed a motion asking the Court of Appeals to reconsider its decision.

Among other things, Peregrine is protesting GGDC’s supposedly “improper and invalid termination” last June where the latter was supposed to have “willfully and maliciously” removed more than $1 million from an account used to fund the project. (The result: About 14 checks to suppliers bounced due to insufficient funds.)

Who’s right? Who’s wrong? We’ll leave that to the courts to decide, but what’s clear is that there’s more to this dispute that meets the eye (or what is published).

Meanwhile, an important development project and thousands of jobs hang in the balance. Daxim L. Lucas

Hoteliers alarmed

Philippine hoteliers are losing sleep over reports of travel advisories that tagged the Philippines as “most dangerous” for Koreans and Chinese nationals, in turn arising from perceptions of a deterioration in the peace and order situation in the country, no thanks to some rogue men in uniform.

Alarmed that these reports were killing the “goose that lays the golden egg,” Philippine Hotel Federation president Arthur Lopez appealed to the concerned government agencies—especially those responsible for the country’s peace and order—to “act swiftly and decisively to erase this image of lawlessness and criminal resurgence that is being conveyed to potential visitors to the Philippines.”

Lopez added: “Tourism is now in full upswing mode and any deterrent to this trend should be clipped immediately.”

A recent report from The Korea Times identified the Philippines as “the most dangerous” country for South Korean tourists and expatriates in 2013, which is worrisome for hoteliers given that South Korea is the country’s top source of foreign tourists to date.

Meanwhile, China has also warned its citizens not to travel to the Philippines after the recent kidnapping of a Chinese teenager in a family-run store in Southern Philippines.

As the government recently launched Visit Philippines Year 2015, Lopez said the country had more reason to ensure that authorities were prepared to handle the security requirements for all the major events slated next year such as the visit of Pope Francis, the 2015 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit and many others.

“The accommodation sector is the major stakeholder, employer and contributor to the increase in tourism revenues that are much needed by the country’s economy, and the negative publicity that has been coming out should be disproved. This can be done only through concrete, definitive actions from government that would dispel the fears of potential visitors because of reports that paint the Philippines as an unsafe, dangerous country,” he said. Doris C. Dumlao

Financial inclusion awards

When the policy-setting Monetary Board decided to raise overnight and special deposit account (SDA) rates the other week, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. was actually out of the country. He was attending the 2014 Global Policy Forum of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion held in the tropical island-country of Trinidad and Tobago.

According to the BSP, AFI granted Tetangco an honorary award for his “excellent stewardship of the network during his two-year chairmanship.” The BSP was likewise honored with a Maya Declaration award for its “tangible financial inclusion commitments.”

AFI claims to be the “leading global network of policymakers and regulators committed to financial inclusion,” grouping more than 120 members from 95 countries.

In the speech delivered by Tetangco before the AFI membership, he cited that among the BSP’s successful financial inclusion initiatives was the development of an electronic money policy framework, which gave more than 25 million Filipinos access to transactional accounts.

“These transactional accounts can be the necessary first step in gaining access to a wider range of services such as deposits and loans,” he noted.

Last week, as the financial world awaited the results of the US Federal Reserve meeting, Biz Buzz heard Tetangco was off to Switzerland to attend a Bank of International Settlements (BIS) event. Ben O. de Vera

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