Biz Buzz: History lesson

Not a few observers were surprised at the ferocity by which Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile tore into the former president of the Development Bank of the Philippines, Rey David, and former Trade Minister Roberto Ongpin. After all, Enrile and Ongpin share common roots, having served under the Marcos regime.

Well, it turns out that there was some trouble between both gentlemen just a few years ago.

Sometime in 2004, Ongpin fired the president of his Internet firm, Philweb, allegedly for mismanagement and dishonesty.

Ongpin sued the official, Alex Villamar, and had him arrested and jailed at the National Bureau of Investigation. It turned out later that Villamar was a friend of Enrile’s chief of staff and lawyer, Gigi Reyes.

Indeed, during a Senate investigation about Philweb last year, Enrile told the media: “I don’t like [Ongpin’s] attitude. He put in jail in NBI Alex Villamar, who was the one who put up PhilWeb’s business. He had all of [Villamar’s] assets attached on the ground that he was stealing from the company. He took everything back, including [Villamar’s] several billion shares.”

In any case, the current Senate probe on the DBP loan to Ongpin seems to have taken a life of its own.

What was originally meant to be an investigation into the circumstances behind the suicide of the bank’s lawyer in late August has morphed into a free-wheeling probe into a wide variety of topics surrounding DBP’s dealings with Ongpin.

Do they still care about what led to the DBP lawyer’s death? Not anymore, it seems. (Since it might not jibe with the desired outcome?)—Daxim L. Lucas

Chinoys’ losses upped

Remember our Biz Buzz item recently about that Chinoy “forex trader” who scammed about P1 billion off his clients?

Well, a revised loss estimate has now surfaced from the Binondo Chinese-Filipino community, many of whom are still too embarrassed to admit that they were conned by one of their own.

According to our source, the total estimated loss attributed to “Mister NT” now stood at about P1.5 billion. Yes, you heard it right. That’s P500 million more than the initial figure we reported.

And more salacious details are emerging about Mister NT. Apparently, he’s quite well connected, being the nephew of a recently appointed Philippine ambassador (the appointment itself having raised eyebrows in the diplomatic community) to an emerging superpower. Well-connected indeed.—Daxim L. Lucas

Nothing personal

Months after the issuance of Executive Order 45, which designated the Department of Justice as the country’s Competition Authority, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima is still making sure that it is not misconstrued as a move to block the controversial deal between Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Digital Telecommunications Philippines Inc. (Digitel).

Speaking at the Philippine Business Conference last Thursday, she said the EO was meant to address the absence of an agency focused on handling the business sector’s competition concerns. It was also meant to fill the gap left by the non-existence of an anti-trust or fair competition law in the country.

“Just to assure you, our advocacy for freer competition started years ago and is not a knee-jerk reaction to the announced PLDT buyout of Digitel. Nothing personal against Messrs. Pangilinan and Gokongwei,” she said.—Abigail L. Ho

Can of worms

Graft investigators need not look far for glaring examples of overpriced and defective infrastructure projects built during the previous administration.

Biz Buzz sources claim that a particular case in point is a bridge in Oriental Mindoro built by a foreign construction firm that collapsed even before it was completed last year due to alleged serious design flaws and project mismanagement.

The bridge, funded through a European grant, reportedly has a short bored pile length of 16 meters when the correct design called for at least 42 meters on stable ground.

Sources at the Department of Public Works and Highways claim there were at least 10 other bridges of similar design throughout the country suffering from the same problems.

No wonder then that lawmakers and affected residents of Mindoro are fuming mad over the fiasco. They’ve been nagging the Special Bridges Office PMO-DPWH to fix the bridge and ensure that it is made safe for motorists and pedestrians alike.

The complainants blamed the fiasco on what they described as the “cozy relationship” of some public works officials with “favored” contractors that allegedly made them turn a blind eye on serious infractions that led to massive cost overruns and sometimes tragic consequences when critical projects like bridges failed.

It seems the new Ombudsman would find a can of worms when she starts digging into these serious allegations.—Daxim L. Lucas

Useless mining ban

The ongoing mining ban in Oriental Mindoro seems to be failing in its goal of protecting the environment.

Biz Buzz has pointed out before that legitimate, large-scale mining firms have been prevented from operating on the island, while illegal loggers have been allowed to wipe the forests clean in recent years.

Recently, hard proof finally fell into the hands of the provincial authorities.

According to our sources, a 10-wheeler truck was intercepted a few days ago by the Philippine National Police’s “Regional Public Safety Battalion” carrying 14,060 board feet of illegal logs at the Calapan Port. And who owned the contraband logs? The barangay captain of a nearby locality, it turned out.

According to a local DENR official, an estimated 90 percent of the logs on the truck cargo was illegal, consisting of 118 pieces of white lawaan and 116 pieces of mayapis, red nato and pahutan (the permit to carry and transport provided by the suspect specified only contents of mahogany, santol, mango, falcata and gimelina).

The contraband logs were hidden under the permitted lumber, located at the center of the truck’s cargo hold.

According to our source, investigators are looking into the possibility that an elected public official from Victoria town is involved in the crime. Apparently, this is one mining ban that has aggravated—instead of alleviated—the problem.—Daxim L. Lucas

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