WANT TO see the world in style and for free? Join the Department of Agriculture (DA) and roam the world with the government taking care of the airfare, hotel, registration fees and daily allowance.
A buzzard at the DA sent us this info that another batch of DA employees, at least 11 by latest count, are set to leave for a one-week junket in Sao Paolo, Brazil, from May 11 to 19.
The official reason for the trip is the Global Summit of Women from May 14 to 16.
Our buzzard says the funds would be taken from the budget each government agency allots for GAD, or the gender and development fund, to empower women and address gender issues in the bureaucracy. At least 5 percent of the agency’s budget is allocated for GAD every year.
These grand summer outings have become sort of an annual tradition at the DA. In 2013, a 19-person delegation from the DA went to Malaysia. In 2014, a 23-member group went to Paris. Of course, it’s all on the government’s tab.
Truly, it’s more fun to be an employee of the DA. Gil Cabacungan
McDo fan
WHENEVER San Miguel Corp. president and single largest shareholder Ramon S. Ang, aka RSA, is stuck outside the office without any dinner appointment and too hungry to travel to his house, there’s one place that he visits to fill his stomach. It’s none other than fastfood giant McDonald’s, where he frequently orders chicken nuggets and spaghetti.
Once in a while, he also indulges in French fries, RSA told reporters at the sidelines of San Miguel Pure Foods Corp.’s annual stockholders meeting on Friday. But whenever he orders McDo’s fries, he goes straight to the crew and instruct them to make a fresh batch of potato fries for him. He likes it “double well-done.” This means the potato fries should be “tostado (super toasted), tuyung-tuyo (super dry) and super crispy,” RSA said.
Coincidentally (or not), the master franchise holder of McDo in the Philippines—Chinoy businessman George Yang—is an ally of SMC. Yang’s group previously sold to the conglomerate a controlling stake in the company that holds the right to redevelop the Caticlan airport, gateway to the world-famous Boracay Island. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla
GSIS issue redux
A FEW weeks back, Biz Buzz wrote about how some nonlife insurance companies were worried about the possibility of insider rigging at the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).
In particular, concerned parties were apprehensive that a ranking official of the agency’s Insurance Group used to be a former top executive of an insurance company that regularly participates in auctions.
GSIS president and general manager Robert Vergara aired his side, writing a letter that is best summarized by its concluding statement: “I extend my earnest assurance to our stakeholders that GSIS is fully committed to protect the integrity of its bidding process by ensuring that it is transparent, open, competitive and compliant with the government procurement law.”
We thought that this would finally put closure on the matter, but we recently received an interesting e-mail from a public sector lawyer. While the GSIS may not be guilty of material graft or fraud, he claimed that the impropriety of an apparent conflict of interest could still be a case of “technical misconduct.”
“The main issue here is not whether the GSIS has a favored bidder—Mr. Vergara’s reply categorically denied this. What he did not mention, however, is whether or not one of the official of his Insurance Group is indeed a former top employee of a participating bidder,” the e-mail writer pointed out.
Moreover, it was emphasized that even the slightest possibility of insider information may affect the outcome of a bid process.
“It doesn’t even matter if the information leaks are intentional or not. The issue here is that someone is in a position to create those leaks,” the detail-oriented attorney claimed.
Unfortunately, even if no one is accusing the GSIS of actual corruption, it seems clear that this conflict of interest scenario is casting a long shadow of a doubt on GSIS’ bidding processes. Daxim L. Lucas
Boon or bane?
THE INDUSTRY buzz about the potential promotion of lawyer Josefina Patricia Magpale-Asirit from commissioner to chair of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has drawn mixed reactions from industry stakeholders.
ERC chair Zenaida Ducut will be retiring in July this year and word has it that a legal opinion from Malacañang indicates there will be no impediment for the rumored promotion.
Some who are not quite sold on the idea of Asirit’s promotion are questioning the need for a legal opinion if the appointment were a straightforward one. It seems there was a Supreme Court ruling in the past that invalidated Rey Villar’s promotion as chair of the Commission on Audit in 2008 after serving his term as a commissioner from 2004.
Apparently, the ERC chair and commissioners are supposed to serve full seven-year terms only, and any appointment for less than seven years can only be for the remaining term of a predecessor who died, has resigned, or rendered disabled.
Now, since Ducut is retiring, there is no unfinished term to speak of. Should the President appoint a new person to serve the term of chair for seven years?
Asirit was appointed on July 11, 2013 to a seven-year term of office that would end on July 10, 2020.
Some say Asirit’s potential promotion raises the possibility that a Cebu-based industry player may have strong support from within the quasi-judicial body. It seems the recent appointment of former Board of Investments governor Geronimo D. Sta. Ana has already raised this issue since both he and Asirit are from Cebu.
Political ties may also become a baggage, some say. Asirit, who previously served as undersecretary of the Department of Energy, is the daughter of Cebu Vice Governor Agnes Magpale and niece of Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras.
Anytime soon, the regulatory body is set to name a new chairperson to replace Ducut, who may or may not return to public office, on July 10.
Under R.A. 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act or Epira, the ERC must be composed of a chairperson and four members with recognized competence in energy, law, economics, finance, commerce or engineering.
Will the appointment of the next ERC chair be a straightforward one, whoever it may be, or be riddled with resistance and questions from various groups?
Whether Asirit’s background and political ties serve as a positive driver or becomes heavy baggage remains to be seen. Riza T. Olchondra
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