Biz Buzz: ‘Sharing’ the cause

Former President Arroyo, now reincarnated in Congress as the representative of Pampanga’s 2nd district, filed recently—and jointly with son Diosdado Macapagal-Arroyo (CamSur, 1st district)—House Bill No. 5100 seeking tax breaks for parents and legal guardians of children with special needs.

The Arroyos’ bill, however, was uncannily similar to House Bill No. 3765 filed by a low-profile, first-termer solon, Deogracias Ramos Jr. of Sorsogon, in December last year.

The Arroyos’ bill raised eyebrows among those familiar with the Ramos bill. One source naughtily pointed out that even some of the typo errors and “unofficial” estimates cited in the earlier bill surfaced in the Arroyo bill. And although it was not unusual to have many versions of similar legislative proposals in the House, the explanatory notes are usually distinct and reflective of the author’s personal touch. Purely coincidental? Or is someone’s staff not doing his (or her) job diligently? Looks like somebody has some explaining to do.

We didn’t know that so many legislators have a soft spot for children with special needs.—Doris C. Dumlao

Merger approved but…

It certainly looks like the government will approve the merger of phone giant PLDT and Gokongwei-owned Digital Telecommunications (which operates the Sun Cellular brand).

But hang on … as we had previously pointed out in Biz Buzz some weeks ago, it certainly looks like the Palace is inclined to give its green light to the P69-billion deal with one important condition: that the merged entity be stripped of some 3G frequencies to level the playing field with Globe Telecom (which will be left with a 30-percent market share).

No less than President Aquino hinted as much, saying that bandwidth “may be lessened” in order to foster competition in the industry and to prevent the market from being overly dependent on a single company for telecommunications needs.

Said one telco consultant (working neither for PLDT nor Globe) on the issue: “When the company becomes too big, whatever you do later as a regulator to check monopolistic behavior will be meaningless.”

“The [National Telecommunications Commission] has to be proactive and use ‘asymmetric regulation,’” the telco expert noted. “NTC has the power to do that. They just need creative legal thinking.”—Daxim L. Lucas

Mining battle royale

A battle is brewing between the national government and the local executives over the very lucrative small mining industry, a source told Biz Buzz recently. And if the matter is not resolved soon, the big mining players will find themselves caught in the middle of a very nasty fight.

The source, an adviser to President Aquino, said local government officials were enraged by the recent justice department opinion that said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources should have control over the small mining industry.

According to the Department of Justice (DoJ), small-scale mining should be governed by Republic Act No. 7076, or the People’s Small-Scale Mining of 1992, and not by Presidential Decree No. 1899 issued by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

PD 1899, called “Establishing Small-scale Mining as a New Dimension in Mineral Development,” empowers provincial governors to unilaterally approve such permits. Backed by the DoJ opinion, the DENR said it would be drafting new rules on small-scale mining.

In his “informal talks” with local executives, the source said the governors and congressmen expressed plans to challenge any DENR move to change the status quo. They also made it clear that they have the power to make it harder for the big miners to do businesses in the provinces as a way of sending a warning to the national government.

Majority of gold in the Philippines comes from small mines. And with the price of the metal seen to increase in the months to come as the West grapples with the financial crisis, the source said the local governments would definitely fight for their control over the small-scale mining industry. “You are talking about their autonomy and revenues here,” the adviser said.—Kay Alave

Balay versus Samar at LTFRB?

Transportation Secretary Mar Roxas recently named Jaime Jacob, a losing Liberal Party candidate for Congress in the 2010 elections, as the new chairman of LTFRB. Transport groups said Jacob, as expected, is part of the administration’s Balay faction, which Roxas heads. He replaced Nelson Laluces, a former classmate of Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, who heads the rival Samar faction.

But Jacob’s appointment is not the only movement at the LTFRB. The agency’s executive director, Dante Atienza, who submitted his resignation together with Laluces last month, is also on his way out.

Roxas has asked Atienza to stay and be part of the new “DoTC team” at first, but an LTFRB source said the secretary finally agreed to let the latter go. Atienza is rumored to be on his way to set up an office in Pasay to be Sen. TG Guingona’s new chief of staff.—Paolo Montecillo

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