Biz Buzz: Blame comes home to PSE

MSCI has silently taken the brunt of investors’ wrath following the seemingly fickle index alignment involving Ricky Razon-led port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. (It was included in the index for a day.) But according to industry sources, the Philippine Stock Exchange itself may have some explaining to do.

ICTSI recently wrote the PSE after finding out that the flip-flopping announcement of its inclusion in the closely watched MSCI global standard indices had something to do with some data discrepancy in the PSE’s new trading system. Sources familiar with matters at the PSE alleged that MSCI had used certain data culled from the PSE’s trading system that turned out to be unreliable, thus prompting the recall of its decision to add ICTSI the very next day after the inclusion was announced.

ICTSI, the sources said, was naturally upset with the opportunity loss arising from the data glitches and would want this issue addressed by the PSE.—Doris C. Dumlao

Bird safety or people safety?

SOME aircraft owners and pilots have begun to raise concerns about the presence of a man-made bird sanctuary along the flight path leading to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

According to the pilots, the bird sanctuary in the Las Piñas-Parañaque-Coastal Lagoon sits within a 2-kilometer radius from the center line of Naia runways 13-31 (international) and 6-24 (domestic).

Why are they alarmed? Well, it’s simply because the birds have been partly to blame for the high incidence of “bird strikes” in the area, posing a significant threat to flight safety.

Airport personnel have long suspected that flocks of birds seen foraging within the airport grounds come from that habitat. A bird strike—a.k.a. an avian ingestion, a bird hit or a BASH [Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard]—happens when a bird is sucked in or crashes into an aircraft’s engine.

At the very least, it causes expensive damage to pricey aircraft engines. At worst, it poses a threat to the safety of aircraft, their passengers and people on the ground. In fact, for 2010, there were a total of 23 bird strike incidents in Naia, a sharp jump from the eight that were recorded in 2009.

These pilots are now asking the government to take a closer look at this hazard and take action to ensure the safety of flight operations and passengers.—Daxim L. Lucas

Pagcor and PPP

DUE to the large infrastructure requirements of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.-led Entertainment City, which is expected rise along Manila Bay, word on the street is that the government may include this project as part of P-Noy’s public-private partnership (PPP) framework.

Putting the Entertainment City in the coveted PPP pipeline was earlier considered by economic managers, given that the multibillion-dollar development was intended to be mostly tourism-oriented, with only 10 percent of the components actually related to gaming. This was borne out of the consideration that the project could bloat air traffic and peripheral road infrastructure requirements.

“There were preliminary discussions if it’s going to be beneficial to include it in PPP but ultimately, the decision that was reached was to better coordinate [with other agencies] but not really make it part of PPP,” Pagcor vice president Francis Hernando explained to Biz Buzz.—Doris C. Dumlao

CLSA research on top. Still.

CLSA Philippines won the recent Institutional Investor All-Asia Research Team Survey for the third consecutive year, edging out the local units of UBS and Deutsche Bank.

The stock brokerage firm’s head of research, Alfred Dy, and his team consisting of Leo Venezuela, Hazel Tañedo and Chesca Bugia maintained the team’s top position against heavy odds due to the departure of two senior analysts last year (Mike Bengson, who left for Deutsche Bank Securities, and Raffy Manalaysay, who migrated to Canada).—Daxim L. Lucas

Fresh trouble in Diwalwal

FOUR indigenous people’s communities occupying the Diwalwal mineral reservation in Compostela Valley—the Mandaya, Manobo, Mangguangan and Dibabawon—have signed a peace treaty of sorts and agreed to jointly develop the Tribal Mining Areas (Trimas) under their stewardship.

Last Friday, representatives of the IPs declared Jake Mining Co. as their chosen “strategic partner.” Jake Mining is the “successor in interest” of publicly listed Apex Mining Co.

On the surface, it seems that with the unity declaration last Friday, decades of conflict in Diwalwal will finally end.

The gold-rich mountain has been haphazardly mined by small-scale miners since the 1980s. Small-scale miners, many of them armed, have fought each other and with the IPs as well as the large companies roped in by the government.

Jake Mining president Eric R. Tagle said it was possible that winners of the mine-operating agreements auctioned off by Philippine Mining Development Corp. (PMDC) within the Diwalwal area could now encounter problems with the four tribes, which have chosen his company to explore and develop their 950-hectare TRIMA.

PMDC, Tagle said, should have awarded Diwalwal as a whole instead of subdividing it, since the blessing of the IPs was necessary for any mining activity to prosper.

Could this mean that the subdividing and bidding conducted in Diwalwal could be reversed? One could only imagine mining investors wondering if the government will change its mind yet again on existing arrangements.
One PMDC official says the agency does not support the declaration made by Jake Mining and the IPs. So it seems there’s fresh trouble brewing underneath the surface. Riza Olchondra

Ayala means good governance

THE Ayala group was the biggest name at the recent Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD) 8th annual dinner last week.

For the first time in its history, the ICD gave out “Platinum” awards, recognizing listed companies that received “Gold” trophies for three consecutive years. Gold awards are handed out to listed companies that score 95 percent or higher on the ICD Corporate Governance scorecard.

Out of the seven Platinum awardees, five were Ayala-led companies, namely: Ayala Corp., Ayala Land, Globe Telecom, Manila Water Co. and Cebu Property Ventures Development Corp. Also awarded were Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Lopez Holdings Corp.

Other Ayala subsidiaries recognized at the ceremony were Cebu Holdings and Integrated Micro-Electronics, which made it into the Gold category, and Bank of the Philippine Islands, which was in the Silver category.—Paolo Montecillo

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