The race toward renewable energy (RE) dominance is becoming more competitive and Negros Occidental-based Victorias Milling Corp. (VMC)—which is into integrated sugar milling, manufacturing and biomass co-generation—wants to be a bigger contender.
VMC recently put out an ad to give mandatory notice of its application with the Board of Investments for the registration of additional investments as an RE developer.
Recall that VMC received in March a provisional authority from the Energy Regulatory Commission to operate its 40-megawatt biomass co-generation power plant with feed-in-tariff eligible capacity of 21.45 MW and its 2×2 MW black start diesel engine generating units for a period of one year until March 9, 2023.
We heard that VMC plans to invest an additional P1.8 billion to increase the capacity of the biomass co-generation power plant from 40MW to 63MW. The additional capacity is expected to be switched on by the end of 2023.
“We are maximizing use of bagasse as fuel for high-pressure boilers which will, in turn, convert into power via electric turbine,” a reliable company source told Biz Buzz.
VMC, whose biggest stockholders are investment firm Narra Capital Investment Corp. (led by Bacolod-based businessman Alvin Yu) and Lucio Tan group, does not have a lot of excess bagasse. However, it can buy and consolidate bagasse from other mills without an RE facility.
—Doris Dumlao-Abadilla
Dark horse
There’s a long list of names of would-be candidates for Secretary of Finance in the incoming administration of presumptive President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. with the prospects of each person rising and falling from day to day, depending on who’s doing the talking.
But there’s one name that’s not on the list that some influential players are asking about.
Specifically, some people in positions of influence are asking why the name of former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. is not on the list of candidates to become the head of the next administration’s economic team.
“Tetangco ticks all the right boxes,” said one official who had worked with the former BSP chief.
Apart from being the most decorated central bank governor the country has ever had, Tetangco also has a long experience of working hand in hand with fiscal authorities to promote the country’s economic growth.
But it’s late in the game and the incoming president is expected to make his choice soon. Is it too late for a last-minute dark horse candidate to nose out his rivals? Abangan!
—Daxim L. Lucas
Celebrated banker-bowler
“So proud that someone who works a full-time banking job, helping businesses grow, can excel in a sport that requires discipline, strength and mental focus.”
Thus said Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) president Teodoro “TG” Limcaoco of Alexis Sy, a Cebu-based BPI employee who won a silver medal in bowling at this year’s Southeast Asian Games (SEA) in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The 29-year-old Sy is a marketing associate at BPI’s corporate banking group. She has been handling big business accounts at Southeast Asia’s oldest bank since 2014.
This was the fourth time that the Cebuana bowler waved the Philippine flag at the SEA Games—and leveled up from the bronze medals won in each of her previous SEA games.
Sy picked up bowling at the age of eight and has been with the national bowling team since 2007.
Meanwhile, the #AtletangAyala program of Ayala Group bagged four medals at the region’s biggest athletic event this year: one gold in archery courtesy of Pia and Abby Bidaure with teammate Phoebe Amistolo; two silver medals in fencing for Nat Perez and Noelito Jose Jr. and one bronze medal in swimming by Jasmine Alkhaldi. Ayala Corp. chair Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala expressed utmost pride and joy and hailed their “extraordinary partnership.”
Under the Atletang Ayala program, participating Ayala companies offer full-salaried employment opportunities at part-time hours to selected national athletes while they train for the 2022 Asian Games and the 2024 Olympics in the world-class training facilities of the Ayala Vermosa Sports Hub in Cavite.
Ayala Center For Excellence in Sports, which selected eight national athletes for its pilot program, also teamed up with De La Salle University to offer free enrollment in a selection of courses. This enabled athletes to matriculate at La Salle, eventually earning degrees that will support their career development.