BIZ BUZZ: Ortiz-Luis reelected Philexport president
Export industry veteran Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. was reelected as the president of the country’s largest export trade organization for another two-year term, Biz Buzz learned on Wednesday.
The Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) on Tuesday held its general membership meeting and election of officers where the 80-year-old businessman was voted to head the trade association once more.
Other industry leaders elected into key positions were former agriculture attaché William S. Co as the new chair, and EMS Group chief executive officer Ferdinand Ferrer as the new vice chair.
The trade association hopes to achieve a 5-percent to 6-percent growth in export revenues this year, banking on the expansion of the Philippines’ electronic exports and the economic rebound of the United States, a key market for local exporters.
According to the latest data from the Philippine Statistic Authority, the country’s total external trade in goods amounted to $67.03 billion as of November 2023, down 13.7 percent from the preceding year.
As for the Philippines’ service exports revenues, latest data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas covering January to September 2023 puts it at $34.7 billion, an increase of 20.7 percent compared to the same nine-month period in 2022. —Alden Monzon
PAL’s new home
Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) is transferring to a new home along Andrews Avenue in Pasay, vacating its offices at Philippine National Bank (PNB) Financial Center in Macapagal. Both companies are under the helm of tycoon Lucio Tan.
“The area is where various PAL offices are also located like flight operations,” a source told Biz Buzz.
The airline moved to PNB Financial Center in 2007 “because the PAL corporate headquarters along Legazpi Street in Makati (across Greenbelt) gave way to the development of Eton buildings.” Eton is Tan’s property arm.
As PAL relocates its office, it is also beefing up recruitment of pilots, cabin crew and customer care staff to address the growing air travel demand. —Tyrone Jasper C. Piad
Atayde gets plum DA post
Danny Atayde is poised to join the Department of Agriculture (DA) family as assistant secretary for logistics.
But who is he? A quick Google search won’t generate a lot of results about Atayde although a dive into social media platforms will show that Atayde is the brother of businessman Arturo Atayde, the husband of actress Sylvia Sanchez, and uncle of actor-politician Arjo Atayde and actress Ria Atayde.
Atayde also ran as an independent in last year’s national and local elections for representative of the lone district of Bacolod City. He lost to Greg Gasataya of the Nationalist People’s Coalition. That was his first rodeo in politics.
Based on previous articles in local dailies, Atayde was a consultant of the Bacolod Real Estate and Development Corp., the owner, developer and operator of a private-commercial port situated within the 250-hectare reclamation area in Bacolod City.
A source said that while the appointment papers have yet to be released, Atayde has already been working informally with the agency to further the logistics agenda of the new DA leadership.
It is a matter of time before the Palace makes the official announcement and whether or not the logistics master plan of Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. will pan out.
As we often say here, abangan! —Jordeene B. Lagare
