Biz Buzz

Property deal questions

SOME residents of Ayala Alabang Village who are involved in the crusade against the opening of new gates are yet to be convinced of the altruistic intentions of neighboring property developer Filinvest group in talks to sell an adjoining lot at at the other side of one of the dismantled walls.

The new gate at San Jose Street along with another gate at Champaca Street have since then been built, but could not be used because of the injunction order obtained by subdivision developer Ayala Land Inc., which protested the process by which the village association had opened those gates.

Ayala Alabang resident Michelle Basco, a lawyer, said that in explaining its side on the matter, Filinvest failed to mention that it had recently launched a new residential development called Enclave along Daang Hari Road, which she claimed would benefit from the opening of the gates in Champaca and San Jose.

As any traffic congestion in the area spills over to the adjacent Filinvest estate, a spokesperson from the Gotianun group earlier said that it was necessary to cooperate to benefit the entire Alabang community.

Basco, for her part, said: “Filinvest also needs to justify to shareholders why they are offering the lot at P54,000 per square meter, which is a huge discount to the going rate of P200,000 (in the area).” It was earlier noted that such discussions had been discontinued pending the lawsuits filed by village developer Ayala Land.

“Lastly, Filinvest could have been neighborly to ALI, the developer of Ayala Alabang, if they had sought their feedback before making an offer for sale to the barangay and the association,” the lawyer added.

Asked for the group’s side on the matter, Filinvest declined to comment on Basco’s queries but affirmed that it would cooperate to be a good neighbor to the community. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla

Doubting Tessie

NO, we don’t mean SM Investments Corp.’s Teresita Sy is being doubted. Instead, we mean that she was doubting herself, more than once, apparently, during her early years as the primus inter pares (or the resident “nagger” as she calls it) of six siblings of the Sy family.

“Tessie,” as she is known to friends and associates, showed a very human luring, saying that she had faced many doubts in her “crazy” business decisions in her early years with the family business (we’re talking about the $14-billion Sy retail and banking empire, in case you’ve been hiding under a rock all these years).

Sy made these very candid revelations in a long interview that was featured on CNN’s Talk Asia with TV anchor Manisha Tank that has been airing since last week.

In the interview, Sy revealed her discomfort at being labeled as one of Asia’s most powerful women, saying she prefers not to dwell on the label assigned by others. Those “others” included Forbes magazine, which assigned the label to her, of course.

When asked what kinds of doubts she faced, Sy noted the difficult period she faced when she decided to make the family-run Banco de Oro bid for the bigger Equitable PCI Bank—a process that took all of two and a half years to complete.

“I just saw a bank whose shares were undervalued,” she said, calling it one of her “crazy” ideas. “I just wanted to invest but I didn’t expect the challenges that came with it. I learned a lot.”

Well, her crazy idea seems to have paid off because BDO is now the country’s largest bank by a wide margin.

In the interview, Sy also intimated that she preferred skydiving to scuba diving and preferred city life to the countryside.

Which cities? Well, she has homes in Vancouver, Singapore and London. But she said she would want one in either New York or San Francisco, given the opportunity.
Hmmm. Something tells us that goal won’t be too difficult to attain.  Daxim L. Lucas

Petron ‘pogi’ points

IT’S a good an endorsement as anyone can get.

Petron Corp. has disclosed that it was chosen by the US government the exclusive fuel supplier for what is probably the most advanced, most recognizable, and undoubtedly the most prestigious aircraft in the world—US President Barack Obama’s Air Force One.

The country’s biggest refiner and distributor of petroleum products made this well-deserved boast boasted on its Facebook page this week, adding that the fuel supply deal happened during last month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Manila.

As is to be expected, one does not simply get chosen to supply fuel to the so-called “Flying White House” from which the US President can run the entire country during national emergencies. The petroleum arm of conglomerate San Miguel Corp. said that its Jet A-1 fuel was subjected to “several quality tests, including the stringent particulate requirements”.

Naturally, Petron’s aviation fuel was also selected for use on the US President’s helicopter (dubbed “Marine One” whenever he’s on board) along with the other helicopters and vertical takeoff Osprey aircraft of Obama’s aerial convoy.

And as if that wasn’t endorsement enough, Petron was also selected to supply fuel for several aircraft used by the leaders of Apec countries, including Australia, Japan, Russia, Indonesia, Peru, Chile, Mexico and Colombia, among others.

But wait, there’s more.

Petron scored another public relations bonanza—perhaps of the more in-your-face variety—in Malaysia, where the Philippine brand is the third largest player in an industry Malaysian giant Petronas.

Petron—which came to Malaysia a few years ago after San Miguel bought the local operations of petroleum refiner and distributor Esso—gained endorsement points when the US presidential limousine and the rest of President Obama’s convoy stopped at its Bukit Bintang service station in Kuala Lumpur during the East Asia Summit that immediately followed the Apec Summit in Manila.

Petron posted on its Facebook page a picture of Obama’s stretch Cadillac limousine (nicknamed “The Beast” because of its heavy armor) gassing up with Petron Blaze 97 octane fuel alongside a fuel pump.

Ten other vehicles of the US presidential convoy were fueled at the same service station.

Now that is the kind of endorsement money cannot buy. Daxim L. Lucas

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