BIZ BUZZ: Soft spot for PAL
Carlos Dominguez III wore many hats before he put on his latest one as Secretary of Finance under the administration of his friend, President Duterte. And one of those was chair, president and CEO of Philippine Airlines (PAL). In fact, he was the last to hold all three positions simultaneously in the 1990s.
This could help explain why Dominguez seems to still have a soft spot for the airline he once ran, thus his extension of warm congratulations to Capt. Stanley Ng, the newly appointed president and CEO of PAL. The airline is, of course, owned by billionaire Lucio Tan, Ng’s father-in-law.
“As the last person who held the position of PAL chair, president and CEO at once, I understand the heavy responsibility on your shoulders,” Dominguez told Ng in a Feb. 4 letter. “The ongoing pandemic has made your job even more challenging. May you have the wisdom and fortitude to carry out the unenviable task of steering PAL into recovery.”
“Let me assure you that our doors are open to discussing your plans for PAL, and we eagerly await what lies ahead for PAL under your leadership,” Dominguez added.
Ng, the first pilot to be named to the top position, was appointed as officer in charge for at least six months following the abrupt “resignation” of former PAL chief Gilbert Santa Maria.
With Dominguez’s generous offer, Ng can rest easy knowing he has at least one more person in his corner. —Tina Arceo-Dumlao
Redevelopment boom
As property prices in the country’s central business districts remain buoyant despite the pandemic, there’s greater incentive for those with precious land to start unlocking values from their idle assets.
It’s the same for those who own old buildings that do not maximize the allowable floor area ratio (FAR), particularly in cities like Makati, where land is scarce.
There was a time when about 70 percent of buildings in Makati were more than 30 years old, Colliers managing director Richard Raymundo said. In recent years, we have seen property owners redevelop their properties, like how BPI has torn down its old head office at the corner of Ayala Avenue and Paseo de Roxas to build a new skyscraper. Alveo’s Parkford Suites Legazpi is likewise a redevelopment project. Discovery Primea was built after the old structure had been torn down. Ayala Land Premier’s Park Central Towers has risen where the old Mandarin Hotel once stood. The SM group, which has been buying a number of old office buildings in Makati, is also expected to redevelop some of these.
Land prices in Makati CBD are currently being quoted at P800,000 to P1 million per square meter, according to Raymundo.
He said a lot of those old buildings were underutilized. Along Salcedo and Legazpi, there are buildings that are just three or four stories high when the FAR can go up to 16 times. Oftentimes, it’s not enough to just refurbish the space, because it still won’t be enough to cover parking requirements.
“So the next phase is for the owners to either go into joint ventures or sell their property for development,” he said, adding these could be either residential or office developments.
Colliers itself is currently involved in two or three of these redevelopment projects.
Redevelopment is easier said than done, especially when the property is an old condominium with multiple owners of units. Unlike in Hong Kong when the remaining unit owners have no choice to sell once 75 percent have already agreed, here, the buyer needs to convince each and every unit owner to sell.
But over the years, Raymundo said there have been families who have been buying out neighbor after neighbor in residential condominium buildings for the purpose of consolidating ownership and selling at a lucrative price to a party that can redevelop the asset. This condo-banking strategy is seen to have a handsome payout in the long run.
—Doris Dumlao-Abadilla
Best of the best
The winners of the annual Philippine Law Firm Awards were announced last week and the winner for law firm of the year (to no one’s surprise, truth be told) was the illustrious ACCRALaw.
For the second year in a row, ACCRALaw was chosen by the Asia Business Law Journal as the country’s top law firm, being cited as one of the best in 15 legal categories for 2021.
Led by managing partner Emerico de Guzman and featuring corporate law specialist Francis Ed. Lim, ACCRALaw is one of the oldest law firms in the country (founded in 1972) with 170 lawyers including 45 partners.
The other notable winner, meanwhile, is one of the youngest law firms but one of the fastest growing. We’re talking about DivinaLaw—led by University of Santo Tomas law dean Nilo Divina—which, at only 15 years old, already has close to 80 lawyers.
The Philippine Law Firm awards recognized DivinaLaw as one of the country’s best in the field of banking and finance, which is not a surprise given that Divina was, at one time, a ranking official of one of the country’s largest banks.
Most importantly, however, DivinaLaw was able to add some 150 clients to its roster in the middle of a pandemic. Talk about opportunity in crisis, huh?
—Daxim L. Lucas INQ
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