Biz Buzz: Department name game

THERE’S a name game being played—or not played—at the transportation department under President Duterte.

Since the recent creation of the Department of Information and Communications Technology, the DOTC was told to drop the word “communications” since it would no longer handle that aspect. Of course, it was told what to do, but just not what to call itself after. There appeared to be a little confusion among department insiders since “DOT” already referred to the Department of Tourism.

Others have made up their own interim shortcuts. Some of those we heard were “DOTrans” or “DOTransport”. New Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade repeatedly called his agency the “DOT” in his first press briefing last week.

While the department sorts that out, change has already come for Tugade’s “DOT” with his undersecretaries and their varying roles. Unlike in the past, when functions were mostly centralized, a head undersecretary was named to handle specific segments.

Roberto Lim was tapped for air and airports, Noel Kintanar for rails and toll roads, Felipe Judan for maritime and Anneli Lontoc for roads and infrastructure. Centralized functions such as administration and finance will be handled by Garry de Guzman, Rommel Gavieta for planning and Raoul Creencia for legal and procurement.

Tugade said the revamp served two purposes: So that undersecretaries can be more focused on their roles, and so he and the public would know whose neck was on the line in case of missteps. Miguel R. Camus

Booming business at PAL

WITH Filipinos’ growing affluence amid the good economic environment, demand for air travel continues to rise as evidenced by the strong ridership numbers being experienced by flag carrier Philippine Airlines.

So much so that the Lucio Tan-owned firm has been operating additional flights on its key trans-Pacific routes from Manila to Los Angeles and Manila to San Francisco. Apart from the daily Manila-LAX-Manila flights, the route is now also served by a four-times-a-week service that departs an hour earlier. Meanwhile, the Manila-SFO-Manila route is also boosted by a thrice-weekly service that also leaves an hour earlier than the regular flight.

Of course, PAL has to make do with only six Boeing 777 and six older Airbus A340 aircraft, which it has to juggle for other long-range routes like the Manila-Vancouver-New York and the Manila-London services.

Most flyers prefer the Boeing 777 because PAL’s A340s are older (several were acquired second-hand from Spain’s Iberia a few years ago) and its interiors and inflight entertainment systems are no longer cost-effective to upgrade. But since there’s no way of knowing in advance which planes will be deployed for a particular flight, the experience can be somewhat of a lottery for passengers.

Thankfully, relief is on the way. Biz Buzz learned that PAL is set to take delivery of a new Boeing 777 by October, and another one of the same type by December 2016. The plan is to deploy these aircraft on PAL’s lucrative trans-Pacific routes to make the passenger experience more consistent, we’re told.

Speaking of which, while the load factor for PAL’s flights from Manila to the US West Coast are good (the economy section is often fully booked, along with business class), the numbers for the thrice-weekly Cebu to Los Angeles flights still have room for improvement. As such, airfare from Cebu to LA is still cheaper than Manila to LA in order to attract more travelers.

A company insider told Biz Buzz that it was actually cheaper for travelers to fly to Cebu and then to LA, than fly direct Manila to LA at present. Now that’s an interesting proposition. Daxim L. Lucas

Fixer is back

BIZ BUZZ’S friends in the legal system have pointed out a disturbing development. A certain lady known to insiders as an effective court fixer is back.

The controversial court figure, we’re told, is now back in the country after a long hiatus in the United States and Canada. Her self-imposed exile after she was tagged in a Supreme Court query a few years ago as one of the personalities corrupting judges and magistrates at the appellate court to favor cases involving, among others, a Chinese-Filipino businessman.

This lady, it was learned, is the principal fixer of the shrewd businessman involved in the food business who was also tagged as one of the smugglers of toxic flour to the country.

Sources said he was now in partnership with another fixer at the Department of Justice known as “Tisoy.” Tisoy, a process server at the DOJ, is said to be close to some prosecutors at the main office.

Maybe it’s time that Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno look into this—again—and if warranted, review legal issues linked to this notorious court personality. Daxim L. Lucas

Dominguez’s DOF crew

FINANCE Secretary Sonny Dominguez was seeking President Duterte’s approval to create four new but co-terminus undersecretary positions at the DOF, Biz Buzz has learned.

Dominguez was requesting for the four additional posts so that his deputies could help in the timely rollout of reforms supportive of the Duterte administration’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda.

The finance secretary already has four people nominated as new DOF undersecretaries, including former Privatization and Management Office chief Karen Singson, who led the agency’s biggest asset disposition to date—selling the 74-hectare FTI property  to Ayala Land for P24.3 billion in 2012.

Also offered undersecretary posts were Philippine-based World Bank senior economist Karl Kendrick Chua, and lawyers Bayani Agabin, who specializes in energy and mining law, and Antonette Tionko, who is spearheading the drafting of the implementing guidelines of revenue laws. Ben O. de Vera

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