Biz Buzz: The next BIR chief

AMONG the members of the business community, one of the most closely anticipated appointments that incoming President Duterte will make is the one for commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. And right now, the word on the street is that tax lawyer Jesus Clint Aranas has the inside track to become the country’s next tax chief.

Of course, Duterte has made no secret of how he views the BIR. He has promised to overhaul it because he believes that it is one of the “most corrupt” agencies of government (although outgoing BIR chief Kim Henares and her staff disagree with this assessment vehemently).

In any case, if it’s an overhaul the next President wants, Aranas may just be the man for the job. The tax lawyer had said in an interview that corruption was still prevalent in the BIR, which was manifested in what he called “anti-taxpayer policies”. As someone who has dealt extensively with the tax bureau, his allies in the business community think Aranas is a “perfect fit” for the job of BIR commissioner, especially to carry out Duterte’s mandate.

A number of sources have said that Duterte was considering Aranas, whom he knows, owing to the tax lawyer being the national treasurer of the PDP-Laban political party as well as being a prominent figure in the Duterte campaign team.

Aranas received his law degree from Silliman University and his Bachelor of Science in Commerce, major in Business Administration, from the Philippine School of Business Administration. He worked as a legal assistant to the late Senator Raul Roco and received extensive experience in tax and corporate consultancy from the SGV & Co.

Of course, while Aranas’ name is spoken most often in the rumor mill about the next BIR chief, his is by no means the only name being floated.

First, there’s the name of Joel Tan-Torres—a man who has already served as BIR chief, albeit briefly from 2009 to mid-2010. Tan-Torres is a former SGV & Co. partner and is a partner in the fast growing Reyes Tacandong & Co. audit and consultancy firm.

There’s also Benedicta “Dick” Du-Baladad, who is the managing partner of BDB Law. Considered an “outside choice” (for now, at least), she is a Harvard-trained lawyer and taxation expert who has also served as a BIR official in the past.

So who will Duterte appoint? Right now, the smart money is on Aranas and we shall know soon enough if the smart money is smart enough. Daxim L. Lucas

The fly in San Miguel’s ointment

SAN MIGUEL Corp. president Ramon Ang is a happy man nowadays. Not only is the chief of the country’s largest conglomerate upbeat about the the Philippine business environment over the next six years of the Duterte presidency (the company unveiled plans for a special economic zone in Davao City last March), the latest financial results of the firm also look great.

Indeed, with the first-quarter reporting period now over, it looks like everything is coming up roses for San Miguel. In the first three months of the year, the P1.6-trillion business group grew its net income by 122 percent to P13.5 billion from only P6.1 billion in the same period last year.

Practically all major units reported significant increases in earnings, with some—like petroleum refiner and distributor Petron Corp.’s almost tenfold increase in first quarter net income—surprising jaded market watchers. From San Miguel Brewery, to San Miguel Pure Foods, to San Miguel Packaging, to San Miguel Global Power, to infrastructure investments firm San Miguel Holdings and even the previously struggling Ginebra San Miguel all brought in the big bucks during the first three months of 2016.

So with almost everything looking up, what’s keeping the people at the company’s sprawling Ortigas Center headquarters busy nowadays?

Well, there is that one small issue about San Miguel’s investments in the telecommunications business. Remember that the conglomerate is sitting on a virtual gold mine of telecommunications frequencies (the vaunted 700 MHz spectrum critical for high speed Internet services), which it has been trying to jumpstart since last year? But Biz Buzz hears that frustration has been running high at the head office in recent months with San Miguel’s moves in this sector having been stymied at every turn by its competitors.

According to our sources, the question the company is grappling with now is how to move forward with a very valuable asset (telecommunications infrastructure and spectrum worth billions of pesos) in the face of a very “challenging”—to say the least—business environment. Perhaps bring in a new partner? Or maybe head in the opposite direction entirely?

Word in the financial community is that a definitive answer to this important question is imminent. As in, today.  Daxim L. Lucas

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