Biz Buzz: Delay-weary MPIC delayed again

THEY say a deal isn’t sealed until the ink is dry. Well, in the case of Friday’s joint-venture contract signing for the Cebu-Cordova toll bridge project, there was some concern that the ink would not make contact with paper at all.

The bridge was proposed by Metro Pacific Investments Corp. It was considered an all-around good idea since it would decongest Cebu’s two other bridges and alleviate traffic in the fast-growing metropolis whose packed roads can almost approximate those in Metro Manila on certain hours (this is no exaggeration).

The contract signing between Metro Pacific and local government unit heads led by Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy and Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama was set on 10 a.m. on April 15.

A little allowance is always granted in such events, given everyone’s busy schedules, and by noon, everyone who needed to be there was there—except Mayor Rama.

Lunch was offered to the hungry guests and even as the plates were being cleared and Cebu’s famous lechon reduced to bones, still no mayor.

By 2 p.m., it was decided that the contract needed to be signed since some of Metro Pacific’s officials were scheduled to fly out that afternoon. A ceremony was held, leaving a space blank for the mayor’s signature before some officials had to leave on a jet plane.

To make a long story short, Mayor Rama did appear past 4 p.m to sign the document. The cleared hall was again filled with chairs and a tarpaulin trumpeting the project—not available hours before, apparently—was installed as well.

He entered the hall, briefly chatted with the Metro Pacific officials who decided to postpone their flights, and signed the contract before a brisk exit.

To be fair to the good mayor, it hasn’t been the best week following a suspension order initiated against Rama and Cebu City officials by Malacañang over alleged irregularities in the release of Typhoon Yolanda funds.

(Rama, an ally of Vice President and Presidential aspirant Jejomar Binay, and other officials can keep their posts after the Commission on Elections decided to defer any decision on Malacañang’s request until after the elections).

All things considered, it wasn’t the worst kind of delay that Metro Pacific has faced. The company has dealt with six-year delays for its connector road project and the turnover of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway. Compared to those, six hours sounds like a blink of an eye. Miguel R. Camus

Botched dental job

A POPULAR dental center in Metro Manila, which claims to be the “Dentist to the Stars” (a.k.a. “DS”), recently botched a dental job on one of its valued, albeit unlucky patients.

Biz Buzz learned that this was not the first time that this well-known dental center, with several branches around the city, has been the subject of complaints.

DS’ dental team claims to have world-class facilities and even counts among its patients several celebrities in the country. Thus, the unlucky patient, who is a scion and belongs to society’s crème-de la crème, felt deceived.

The story is that DS assured the patient that his dental problems would be fixed in a few sittings. But to the patient’s horror, after being charged millions of pesos—and after more than 5 months of treatments—his dental problems became worse.

The patient reportedly suffered more pain and discomfort in the mouth. Some of his temporary crowns even fell off. Talk about bungled procedures.

Needless to say, we expect the well-off patient to seek redress with the courts against DS, owing to the erratic and expensive dental procedures. Daxim L. Lucas

Bunye returns

FORMER Monetary Board member Ignacio Bunye, previously press secretary and presidential spokesperson during the term of President Arroyo, was elected to the board of Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands as an independent director.

Not too many people know that long before joining public service (he was officer-in-charge and mayor of Muntinlupa between 1986 and 1998), Bunye was a banker. He had worked for BPI’s treasury and corporate finance departments from 1983 before becoming the steward of Muntinlupa, then a municipality, after the Edsa Revolution. He also became a lawmaker, representing Muntinlupa in Congress, from 1998 to 2001. Bunye obtained both his BA degree and Bachelor of Laws degree from the Ateneo de Manila University. At age 70, Bunye has come full circle.

Long-time Ayala group executive Delfin Gonzales Jr. —formerly chief finance officer of Ayala Corp. (2010 to 2015), Globe Telecom (2000 to 2010) and San Miguel Corp. (1975 to 1999)—has also joined the BPI board. Gonzales and Bunye took the seats vacated by Manila Electric Co. chief executive Oscar Reyes and former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, who had served the BPI board since 2011 and 2010, respectively. Reyes and Panganiban will continue to serve BPI in another capacity, as members of a newly created advisory board. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla

Finance movements

FOLLOWING the promotion of former assistant secretaries Malou Recente and Didith Tan, the Department of Finance has realigned the tasks being overseen by its undersecretaries. Recente, who also serves as Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima’s chief of staff, was assigned to lead the DOF’s policy development and management services group, which Undersecretary Gil Beltran used to head, a March 15 department order showed. Beltran was retained in his current chief economist position while also serving as the DOF’s chief spokesperson.

Tan was tasked to supervise the international finance group, whose OIC was another Tan—National Treasurer Bobby Tan, who looked after the group when Undersecretary Lea de Leon flew to Washington to serve as alternate executive director of the World Bank. De Leon will remain in her present post representing the Philippines and eight Latin American countries sharing a seat in the multilateral lender’s board until 2017.

Undersecretary Carlo Carag will continue to oversee the revenue operations and legal affairs group while Undersecretary Jun Paul is still head of the domestic finance group. Paul, however, will be taking a sabbatical leave starting this month for a two-year stint at the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva—after all, he was among the key personalities instrumental in the passage of the Sin Tax Reform Law, which is not only a revenue but also a health measure.

It remains to be seen who will replace Paul as chief of the domestic finance group, although the buzz is Recente may be its OIC and Beltran will get back the policy development and management services group.

Assistant Secretary Teresa Habitan, meanwhile, remained in charge of the corporate affairs group and privatization as well as office of special concern—posts she has been holding since former undersecretary Jimbo Reverente quietly left the DOF last year.

We heard Habitan was also recommended by the DOF to be promoted undersecretary, but Malacañang apparently chose to avoid what could be a “controversial” promotion since the offices she handles face a number of cases before the Office of the Ombudsman. Our sources nonetheless point out that it wasn’t Habitan herself who got embroiled in those legal brouhaha, so here’s hoping for her much deserved promotion… maybe in the next administration. Ben O. de Vera

Pitching for solar

WITH the big summer demand for electricity causing power shortages nationwide, the Philippine Solar Power Solar Alliance (PSPA) believes it has the solution.

But there’s a problem. The Department of Energy only wants to give incentives to roughly two-thirds of the solar power projects that are being built, but not to the rest that were invested in by private proponents at the encouragement of the DOE.

As such, it is possible that some investors in solar power will be left holding the proverbial bag.

Thus, PSPA is now lobbying for government to grant incentives for all of the 600-megawatt solar capacity to the second contracting round of the Solar FiT Program.

PSPA president Tetchi Cruz-Capellan says the industry is “thankful to government’s commitment to solar energy in promoting 500MW of solar to avert any possible brownouts in the summer of 2016.” But that might not be enough.

She pointed out that, to date, solar companies have reached 80 percent electro-mechanical completion and have begun delivering electricity to the grid.

Since there is already an admission from national authorities and utility distribution companies on the tightness of supply, the contribution of 750MW of solar energy in the daytime (when demand is at its peak) will provide more security to the grid, avert a supply shortage and deliver economic benefits to the consumers and the rural economy, the group said.

In the latest industry count, more than 20 projects of varying sizes recorded an installed capacity of over 700MW. All these projects reached 80 percent electro-mechanical completion rates.

“This makes a compelling case for government to accept all the 750MW combined capacity of solar power plants and provide incentives to those that delivered solar energy,” PSPA said.

The question now is: Is government listening? Daxim L. Lucas

‘Ser Chief’ and Manulife

CANADA-BASED global financial services group Manulife Financial Corp. has been in the Philippines for 109 years but for more than a century, it hardly promoted itself to the public, Manulife Philippines president Ryan Charland said. That was until three years ago when the insurer got actor Richard Yap, known for his “Ser Chief” role in hit telenovela “Be Careful With My Heart,” to personify its brand.

Charland attests that Yap’s endorsement of Manulife three years ago has done wonders in creating brand awareness, saying it’s easier now for the group’s 8,000 financial advisers to talk about various life insurance products to people on the street.

Manulife has taken this relationship with Yap to a new level by also signing up the actor to be the human ambassador of Manulife China Bank Life Assurance Corp., the bancassurance partnership with storied China Bank.

China Bank sees Yap as a reflection of the typical Chinese entrepreneurial customer base. An accidental actor, Yap also owns two restaurants (Wang Fu and Luna J gastropub) and a pet hotel and grooming shop. He has also recently been appointed as a dealer for a leading American furniture brand. Before he became an actor, he had worked in a upscale furniture dealership.

To date, its share of earnings from the bancassurance partnership with China Bank accounts for about 25 percent of Manulife’s total business in the Philippines. “We’d like it to be even more,” Charland said. Manulife has imbedded agents in only two-thirds of China Bank’s 350-branch parent network and hasn’t even penetrated the 160-branch network of its thrift bank unit. Plus, China Bank—currently with a customer base of two million—is set to open 200 more branches, which suggests that bancassurance or the cross-selling of insurance products has a long way to go for these parties.

China Bank expects its fee-based business to grow by 15 to 20 percent annually and sees bancassurance as a key driver. “We’re looking at the next five years to really cement the relationship (with Manulife). We’re looking for the nice numbers when we turn 100 years old by 2020,” China Bank senior vice president Alex Escucha said. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla

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