Biz Buzz: Runaway bride

The soured joint venture between the Benitez family and businessman Eusebio “Yosi” Tanco’s STI group has been likened to a “runaway bride” drama, with Philippine Women’s University storming out of the altar on irreconcilable differences with the groom. As a legal battle looms, centenarian Benitez family matriarch Helena Benitez spoke before the clan during the Christmas break at the family home in Mira Nila, Quezon City, rallying them against a “hostile” takeover move by STI.

Benitez, a former Senator who turned 100 years old earlier this year, decried Tanco’s move to take over PWU—the school founded in 1919 by her parents, Francisca Tirona Benitez and Dean Conrado Benitez—especially at this time of the year and just when the courts were on holiday break. The matriarch said she did not want her name used to “lend legitimacy” to the “illegal” STI takeover of PWU.

“The pre-signed, undated resignation letters that were presented to the media are also immaterial, since their effectivity is contingent on PWU’s default,” the family said.

The Benitezes are challenging the default declaration in the first place, citing a provision in their agreement that terms and conditions of the Banco de Oro loan (which STI assumed in 2011) would be automatically restored and made applicable in the event of noncompliance by PWU. Necessarily, the maturity dates stipulated under the terms and conditions of the BDO loan will apply before there can be any occasion for default, the Benitez family said.

The Benitez matriarch said Tanco’s group came in three years ago when PWU was facing difficulties. “PWU is a nonstock, not-for-profit foundation and our commitment has always been to education. STI is for profit so our priorities are different.”

A bone of contention is the alleged commercialization of Jose Abad Santos Memorial School (JASMS), the basic education arm of PWU. His critics said Tanco was about to strike a deal with Ayala Land Inc. to build a retail complex at JASMS.

By taking over the voting rights of PWU, the STI group said it was only protecting its right after pouring money into the university when it was in dire need. From the point of view of the STI group, Tanco is an aggrieved creditor than a predator—one who is caught in between feuding Benitez factions. An industry source said Tanco was willing to walk away from all this, if the Benitezes would give back what they owed him, including interests as stipulated in their cooperation agreement. But after being “demonized” by the other party, the source said he didn’t expect Tanco to give in.—Doris C. Dumlao

Mismanaged?

STI president Monico Jacob claimed the Benitez group was responsible for the “deterioration and near-bankruptcy” of PWU and was just trying to stir public emotions to mask its refusal to pay what it owed STI Holdings.

According to Jacob, it was also the PWU board under the Benitez Group that had approved the so-called “commercialization” of JASMS in Quezon City way back in mid-1990s, receiving P250 million from Jardine Land Inc. and Northpine One Residences Inc. but never delivered, resulting in the foreclosure of 1.1 hectares of property.

“Up until last week when we cited them in default, it was the Benitez Group that called all the shots in PWU. We were a minority and only decided to accept their prepared resignations as provided in our agreements when it became clear we would not be paid,” he said.

Jacob said the Benitez group wanted to rescind their agreements with STI early this month without offering any way of paying STI which, he said, was supposed to get paid through shares of stocks.

He said it was STI that had bailed out PWU from foreclosure in 2011 and lent more funds to fix the school premises which were falling apart. It also put in place support systems in accounting and finance, among other things, that were virtually nonexistent, he added.

Enrollment was on a slide and so was the quality of education that only 11 percent of its nursing graduates passed the board at one time, he said.

“They got more than P400 million from STI and now want out of the agreement without paying. The students pay and do not get the campus and education they paid for,” Jacob said.

“Legacy should make one proud and we question what the Benitez Group has achieved toward this end,” Jacob said.–Doris C. Dumlao

Passport printing woes

There is a potential bad news for millions of would-be travelers and overseas workers in the coming year.

Biz Buzz has learned that an existing printing deal that the Department of Foreign Affairs has with a private (and not to mention, foreign) printing firm is set to expire at the stroke of midnight on Dec. 31, 2014.

What does this mean? This means the DFA will be left with no means to print personal data information on the passport (that all-important first page where the passport holder’s picture and other important information are printed).

Without the technical support for running the printing system, the DFA may be unable to deliver passports to overseas Filipino workers beginning January 2015—not a very auspicious start of the year, if this happens.

Biz Buzz is told that, at present, the DFA is not even doing anything to procure the needed service agreements that will maintain its printing operation for passport data pages. So the question is this: Is there no intention to bid out a new supplier? Is the old supplier expecting to extend its contract?

The present supplier of DFA is French firm Oberthur, which also has a contract with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for the latter’s currency printing operations.

In any case, Biz Buzz learned that DFA’s current passport printing system used what can only be described as an outdated information technology system (that runs on a 1990s-era programming language) for production planning.

Breakdowns at its printing passport system are supposedly frequent, causing users to resort to manual intervention.

Why is this important? It’s because system integrity and security is put in question if users can manually override the software (think: modifying information on the supposedly secure passport data page).

There is now a need to replace broken and unusable printing machines. Out of the 18 printers delivered in 2009, only two are in working condition resulting in delays in passport delivery to Filipinos who are going abroad to work.

With the way some DFA personnel are treating the problem especially, we’re told, the bids and awards committee which is in charge of doing something about these issues, it seems that business as usual at the department’s passport printing unit.

And what if problems crop up come Jan. 15, 2015? Bahala na.–Daxim L. Lucas

Health advice

The noche buena binge might be over, but if we know our readers, the holiday partying season is far from ending.

So before we indulge in that next feast, let’s take some quick advice on how to minimize the damage while still having a good time from one of the country’s wealthiest people, Harley Sy, president of SM Investments Corp.

The son of the richest man in the country can clearly afford any meal but the secret to staying trim, he says, is to avoid sugar-laden desserts.

No, he’s not bent on sucking all the fun out of Christmas. But with the right amount of discipline, one can remove that end-of-the-meal craving for those sweet treats. (We promised him to put that theory to the test, but maybe for the next year.)

In any case, health truly is wealth. And if we’re to go by SM’s market value, then this advice might just be worth following.–Miguel R. Camus

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