Biz Buzz: Ayala Alabang injunction

PROPERTY giant Ayala Land Inc. has secured a 20-day temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Regional Trial Court of Muntinlupa City preventing the use of the “illegally constructed” gates erected by the Ayala Alabang Village Association (AAVA) in two dead-end locations (Champaca and San Jose Streets) in the upscale subdivision.

The gate at Champaca was opened a few weeks ago.

AAVA thus had to announce that the Champaca gate was “temporarily closed effective immediately until further notice.”

Recall that this debate over the gates had escalated into a multi-pronged legal battle after ALI asserted its right to “ensure tranquility and security” of the village when it sued AAVA for demolishing the perimeter wall on Champaca and San Jose Streets. Also, ALI is asking the court for an injunction as well as to order AAVA to restore the walls to their original state at the latter’s own cost.

AAVA is also facing separate lawsuits filed by homeowners opposed to the opening of the gates.

ALI had told the court that it had strategically designed the points of entry and the perimeter wall in the AAV not only to keep the village “peaceful, private and exclusive but also to keep all the AAV residents secure in their homes.” The property developer had also argued that it would suffer “irreparable injury” to its reputation and goodwill and that AAVA’s construction of new gates without its consent would establish a “dangerous precedent to village associations who are poised to disregard the subdivision plans and designs made by the developer and owner.”

Ayala Alabang chair Ruben Baes, in a recent post on social media, said: “If Ayala Land is granted a preliminary injunction, then the gate stay closed until the case is resolved, probably [in] 10 to 15 years.”

Baes also reported that the Filinvest group—which owns the lot at the other end of the demolished San Jose wall—did not want to resume talks on the barangay’s purchase of the lot “until all cases are resolved.”

In other words, there’s no deal until the coast is clear. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla

Apec flight confusion

IT MAY very well turn out to be an extended Halloween for travelers flying into and out of Manila later this month.

Airlines operating from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) were thrown into confusion last week after word emerged that the entire airport would be shut down for at least three days during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders summit later this month.

Last week, a notice was posted on the local Apec website declaring a “no-fly zone” over the entire airport complex on Nov. 17, 19 and 20.

This is an escalation from previous pronouncements of simply having reduced commercial operations to a complete ban on flight (except for the aircraft of the Apec heads of state, we assume).

Airlines were caught flat-footed by the announcement, especially since no formal “notice to airmen” (aka “Notam”) had been issued by local aviation regulators.

“We’re preparing contingency measures, but up to now we’re not sure what the situation will be on those dates,” said one airline official. “We’re planning in the blind.”

Travelers are advised to simply avoid booking flights on those dates. Daxim L. Lucas

JG estate planning

ON WEDNESDAY last week, value turnover at the local stock exchange skyrocketed to P39.15 billion due to a P32-billion special block sale on conglomerate JG Summit Holdings Inc., whose shares rose by 2.08 percent, defying the downturn that day.

This was widely attributed to the estate planning of JG Summit founder John Gokongwei Jr., similar to the transfer of shares to related persons or entities by SM Investments Corp. in earlier years.

Based on a subsequent disclosure, Gokongwei’s daughter Robina Gokongwei-Pe, president of Robinsons Retail Holdings, gobbled up P7.2 billion worth of JG Summit shares that day. This was equivalent to 105.31 million shares bought at P68.40 each. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla

The real Daiso

NOT ALL low-priced, quality Japanese products are created equal.

So if you are looking for Daiso merchandise, go to authentic Daiso shops represented in the Philippines by the Robinsons Group of the Gokongwei family.

The global Daiso brand has been owned by Daiso Industries Co. Ltd. of Japan since 1977. It was founded by Hirotake Yano, who introduced in 1972 the “Yano Shoten” concept, a street vending shop dealing with 100-yen products.

With headquarters in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, the company grew exponentially over the years. In Japan alone, Daiso has over 2,400 stores and a strong presence in at least 30 countries.

In August of 2008, Daiso Industries Co., Ltd. founder and president Hirotake Yano, Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. vice chair and deputy CEO Lance Gokongwei and COO Robina Gokongwei-Pe, signed a distribution agreement authorizing Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. to sell authentic and original Daiso Japan products and to use the Daiso Japan concept store. Daiso Japan now has 43 stores locally.

As the authentic purveyor of the Daiso brand in the country, Daiso Japan stores should not be confused with other establishments bearing a cunningly similar concept, Robinsons said in a statement.

It is understandable that other companies will ride on the unqualified success of the Daiso chain, but it has resulted in some confusion, prompting Daiso Industries Co. Ltd. to file a complaint with the Intellectual Property Office against Japan Home Center (JHC) in 2009.

The Supreme Court issued a final ruling on the matter in June this year, preventing JHC from using the trademark Daiso and thus affirming an earlier decision by the Court of Appeals that JHC had registered the trademark Daiso and its Japanese equivalent with the Intellectual Property Office in bad faith in 2005.

So if you want all things kawaii, don’t confuse Daiso with the Daiso-wannabes. Tina Arceo-Dumlao

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