Biz Buzz

Ceasefire

THE FILINVEST group is breaking into Chinatown but not after painstakingly scouting for a suitable landbank and playing peace-maker to an old-rich clan whose descendants had been feuding for several generations. Without an amicable settlement, Filinvest would not have gained control of this prime spot.

We’re talking about a prized 2.6-hectare property located across the creek from Tutuban mall that had been the subject of a dispute among the heirs of this Chinoy family. One of the heirs is the head of a big property firm who, however, had decided not to join the family dispute. After years of feuding, the heirs arrived at a settlement of their claims and liquidated the disputed Binondo property. Many potential buyers were interested but in the end, the Filinvest group—primarily through the efforts of matriarch Mercedes Gotianun—bagged the deal.

This is seen by Filinvest as a major milestone for the group as it paves the way for the launch of a mixed-use project deemed as the biggest contiguous development in Binondo. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla

Real Estate Personality of the Year

RAMON Rufino, a young property stalwart and green advocate, has been picked by Bangkok-based magazine Property Report as “Real Estate Personality of the Year 2015.” The executive vice president of premium office developer The Net Group will personally receive the award at the third annual Philippines Property Awards, a black-tie gala dinner, on July 9 at Fairmont Makati.

Rufino, 37, is the youngest from the Philippines to earn the distinction, which catapults him to the same league as Megaworld Corp. founder and chair Andrew Tan, who was the 2014 honoree, and former Ayala Land Inc. president Antonino Aquino, who bagged the same award in 2013.

Rufino was elected in 2013 as chair of the Board of Trustees of the Philippine Green Building Council (PHILGBC), a national non-stock profit organization that promotes knowledge-sharing on best green building practices. The Property Report said that as chair and co-incorporator of PHILGBC in 2007, Rufino successfully represented the 300-corporate member organization in 2014 to become an emerging member of the World Green Building Council, which has since recognized BERDE (Building for Ecologically Responsive Design Excellence), the national voluntary green building rating tool that has also been adopted by the country’s Department of Energy.

Rufino graduated with a major in Business Management and minor in Industrial Psychology from the Ateneo de Manila University, and later with a Master’s degree in Real Estate Development from New York City’s Columbia University.

Philippines Property Awards 2014 said his company’s The Net Park project, which is expected to be completed this year, was a Highly Commended winner for the Best Commercial Architectural Design (Office). It is the first and currently the only building in the country that is targeting a five-star BERDE rating.

The magazine said The Net Group’s seven office buildings were already undergoing green building certification. By early next year, Rufino’s company hopes to be the first and only developer with 100 percent of its projects certified as green buildings. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla

Banknotes phaseout problem

THERE’S no shortage of problems to deal with for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). These include investigations on possible conflicts of interest involving apparently illegal trades that led to massive losses for a state-owned bank.

Some problems, however, are more mundane.

Take for instance the circulation of P200 banknotes. This, according to regulators, is the least popular denomination out of all banknotes printed by the central bank.

Normally, this would not be an issue. But officials are in the process of phasing out old banknotes—ironically still called the New Design Series (NDS). This “demonetization” process is complicated enough as it is, and the P200 denomination is making matters tougher.

The P200 bills are circulating too slowly through the economy. Hence, these bills can’t be absorbed by the central bank fast enough for replacement.

To remedy the situation, the BSP’s Monetary Stability sub-sector said it would exempt the P200 NDS bills from service fees under the central bank’s enhanced cash management services until Sept. 30 this year.

Why the urgency? Those P200 bills, and all other NDS banknotes that have been in use for the last three decades, will no longer be used for transactions by the end of the year. These notes may still be exchanged with banks until the end of 2016. By 2017, NDS notes will lose all their value. Paolo G. Montecillo

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