Biz Buzz: PSE election fever

ONE year after the widely watched Philippine presidential polls, the election fever has spilled over to the highly politicized Philippine Stock Exchange. Coincidental (or not) with the change in Malacañang’s tenant, the upcoming board elections this May have attracted relatively more aspirants compared with previous years, especially among brokers vying for limited slots.

Said to be being groomed to be the next PSE chairman to fill the slot vacated by now president Hans Sicat (temporarily filled by Cornelio Peralta) is former trade and finance secretary Titoy Pardo, an incumbent non-broker director.

Pardo is said to be keen on bringing new blood into the PSE as non-broker directors such as former BIR Commissioner Dakila Fonacier (who was with Pardo in Erap’s economic management team as BIR chief) and Employers Confederation of the Philippines president Ed Lacson.

Incumbent broker-directors Vivian Yuchengco, Eusebio Tanco, Alejandro Yu, David Chua, Ismael Cruz, Francis Chua and Eddie Gobing are expected to run for re-election. A potential new candidate is Noel Bautista (of Deutsche Bank) while former broker and PSE corporate secretary William Ang is seen making a comeback bid.

Now, there are at least three new broker candidates trying their luck this year, all of whom sat in the PSE board in the distant past. Aside from former PSE president Ramon Garcia (known as “RTG”), Joseph Roxas and Harry Liu are seen running as “independent” candidates.

Note that PSE brokers are assured only of three seats during the elections, but there are four “open” seats available for brokers or non-brokers alike, for as long as the brokers cannot be voted for by their broker peers. Under the SRC, majority or at least eight of the 15-member PSE board seats must not be brokers.

RTG and Liu are expected to run for the “open” seats alongside Chua, Ang, Gobing and Bautista. Roxas, who wants to be the voice of minority investors, will run for one of the two seats allotted for big brokers, thereby trying his luck against the tandem of Yuchengco and Tanco.

All eyes are now on whether the change in the country’s political leadership will make any significant changes in the PSE’s balance of power this year or in the next few years.—Doris C. Dumlao

Outsourcing, anyone?

A TORCH rally by some 500 Philippine Airlines ground workers and their militant supporters caused bedlam near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) last Friday. With traffic hardly moving along the stretch of Tramo, MIA and Sucat roads, many airport-bound commuters (presumably passengers of PAL and other international airlines going to the adjacent Naia 1) were seen on foot in a desperate attempt to catch their respective flights.

Many seemed to be foreign tourists and businessmen—trolleys in tow—heading toward the two terminals on foot. PAL deployed buses to pick up passengers, but the tourists’ unpleasant experience was no doubt another disincentive for luring them back to the country, open skies notwithstanding.

That thousands of passengers and ordinary commuters can be held hostage by a small band of protesters is another wake-up call for authorities. (Why was the mass action allowed near the airport in the first place?)

Protesting workers of PAL got little sympathy from those made miserable by the anxiety of missing their flights or being late for appointments.

The supreme irony of it was that many of those at the protest rally against the flag carrier were not even PAL employees, but militants from groups like Partido Manggagawa, among others. A case of “outsourcing” rallies?—Daxim L. Lucas

SEC holdover

AT THE side of the corporate regulators, SEC Chairperson Fe Barin has become a holdover pending the appointment of a new chief corporate regulator by P-Noy (President Aquino).

Some say the SEC’s fortunes are tied with the ongoing Ombudsman impeachment trial. The buzz is that P-Noy may deliberately not name a successor to Barin until he’s sure of getting enough numbers in the Senate to impeach Mercy Gutierrez. (He’s learning the “game,” some say).

If so, this means that several senators will be influential in making the choice of the next SEC chairman, the candidates for which have been discussed thoroughly in previous Biz Buzz editions.—Doris C. Dumlao

Out with the old, in with the new

BY MUTUAL agreement, Cebuano businessman and wine lover Manny Osmeña and his group have peacefully parted ways with the Hilton group, which used to manage the upscale, 246-room Flamingo Pink Hotel on Mactan Island.

The end of the management contract paves the way for the entry into the Philippines of Movenpick Hotels based in Glattbrugg, Switzerland.

Osmeña is confident that with the Movenpick Group behind him, the hotel will reach even greater heights and put Movenpick Resort and Spa Cebu on the global tourism map.

Incidentally, heading the Movenpick Hotels business in the Philippines is Helmut Gaisberger, a longtime general manager of the Mandarin Oriental Manila.—Tina Arceo-Dumlao

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