BIZ BUZZ: Who’s the boss?
Trouble is brewing over at Mt. Labo Exploration and Development Corp., as its employees are now unsure about who actually controls the company.
It would seem the relationship between Sage Capital Partners Inc. and its Australian partner RTG Mining has gone sour, as Sage has reportedly sold its controlling stake to another company without RTG’s knowledge.
In a memo addressed to the staff of Mt. Labo, RTG implored all employees not to perform any duties nor provide any information to the representatives of the purported buyer.
“Any noncompliance would be deemed insubordination for which there are appropriate administrative actions,” the RTG officials said.
According to RTG, Sage is prohibited from selling any of its assets in Mt. Labo by virtue of a stay order issued by the Makati Regional Trial Court.
The stay order resulted from a petition for involuntary rehabilitation of Mt. Labo filed by RTG, which claims that Mt. Labo and its parent company Sage have failed to meet their liabilities as they fell due. They also supposedly failed to pay other recurring liabilities to suppliers and creditors.
RTG also said that Sage has not infused any material amount of resources to Mt. Labo, unlike the Australian firm which has already spent millions of dollars on the Mabilo project copper-gold project in Camarines Norte.
RTG also believes that the proceeds of the sale will only go to Sage’s pockets and will not benefit the employees in any meaningful way.
Because of all this, Mt. Labo’s employees are now at a quandary as to whose orders to follow—those of RTG which has, oddly enough, been calling the shots since the project started despite being a minority shareholder, or of the purported new majority owners.
It is a tough decision for employees to make because the wrong choice might mean losing one’s job, which will be devastating during this ongoing pandemic.
As to who will prevail … abangan!
—Daxim L. Lucas
Wrong target
With word going around that up to 30 individuals involved in the multibillion-peso industry of e-sabong—actual cockfights where bets from gamblers are made and paid out online—have disappeared, some lawmakers have engaged in the usual knee-jerk reaction of conveniently blaming the wrong party.
In particular, some lawmakers recently criticized the popular GCash e-wallet of Globe Telecom Inc. for allowing e-sabong bets on its platform.
GCash is unfortunately being made a scapegoat, even if government gaming regulators sanctioned these virtual cockfights, licensing a total of seven operators.
Our lawmakers should remember that, in the case of GCash, there is verification upon sign up, ensuring that only those of legal age can use it for betting. Minors, therefore, cannot access the app for e-sabong purposes.
Most importantly, these e-wallets are just platforms. Even without them, e-sabong operations can and will continue through other payment operators and means.
To be fair, senators made the right move in asking the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. to better regulate e-sabong, and it was reassuring to hear that it agreed to suspend e-sabong operations. The best solution is always to attack the problem at the root, and not innocent businesses that are just lawfully going about their own … well … business.
There are many unregulated e-sabong websites and apps that do not have the benefit of screening that GCash provides, thus allowing the underage bettors to engage in gambling.
Maybe our legislators and law enforcers should focus on these fly-by-night operations instead of putting the heat on the country’s only “double unicorn” firm—that is, a company that’s worth more than $2 billion. Or is that precisely the reason why the heat is on GCash just months before the national elections? Tsk.
—Daxim L. Lucas
Ex-ADB chief joins AIM
Former Asian Development Bank (ADB) president and Manila resident Takehiko Nakao has joined the Board of Governors of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM).
Nakao was president of ADB from April 2013 to January 2020, and it was during his watch when ADB expanded its lending and grants to $22 billion in 2018 from $14 billion in 2013. He also institutionalized reforms to make ADB “stronger, better and faster” as part of its mission to help achieve a “prosperous, inclusive, resilient and sustainable Asia and the Pacific.”
Nakao is currently chair of the Mizuho Research Institute Ltd. and is a Distinguished Fellow in Development Management at AIM.
Joining him on the AIM board is Serge Pun, chair of Serge Pun and Associates (Myanmar) Ltd. He established First Myanmar Investment Company Ltd., one of the earliest public nonlisted companies in Myanmar, leading it to eventually become the first company to list on the Yangon Stock Exchange.
Pun is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Regional Strategy Group and the Asean Regional Business Council and a frequent speaker in international fora on Myanmar and Asean.
They join the AIM at a time when it is expanding its programs to respond to the growing demand for new and relevant knowledge to cope with the rapidly shifting business landscape.
The first of these programs is the Master in Cybersecurity that was launched on Feb. 5. Start date for the Master in Cybersecurity is in July 2022.Along with it is the Master in Financial Technology (Fintech), a dual degree diploma program in partnership with a European business school with triple accreditation.
Another program that AIM is preparing to launch is the Master in International Business Law, an 18-month part-time, blended program targeted to professionals who are nonlawyers, who want to learn and understand the practice of law as it applies to international business processes and operations. The Master in International Business Law is scheduled to launch in January 2023.
—Tina Arceo-Dumlao
‘Smart’ grocery carts
As tycoon Manuel Villar Jr. seeks to differentiate and raise the bar in grocery shopping, his newly listed AllDay Supermarket chain has rolled out the first “smart carts” in the country.
As customers place their desired items, the smart cart will automatically scan each merchandise and immediately reflect prices and other important information on the cart’s user interface.
Throughout the shopping trip, a running total is generated real-time, allowing consumers to better track their budget. When a customer is ready to check out, the smart cart will automatically generate a QR code for their total purchase, which can be scanned at either AllDay’s self-check out counters or handed over to the cashiers for payment and check out.
“We’re excited to bring to our customers yet another innovation to make in-person grocery shopping even more intuitive and enjoyable,” said Camille Villar, AllDay Supermarket’s vice chair.
“Our smart carts are a novel experience, and we are sure it will be an exciting experience for first-time users. This puts even more convenience and information about what they are buying in real time, right at their fingertips. More importantly, introducing these smart carts helps raise the bar for the local supermarket landscape, driving home our point that Filipino consumers now expect more in terms of experiential shopping, and we are of course happy to deliver,” she added.
With the recent opening of new locations in the Villar group’s East Lake and WCC locations, AllDay Supermarket now operates 35 stores.
