Land of premise

THE Aquino (Part II) administration is trying hard to convince us that criminality and terrorist threats are rising in Mindanao.

The Palace boys in particular are citing the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, its five provinces and four million people.

By coincidence, reports tell us that the administration has also been pushing for the postponement of the ARMM elections this August.

It is just that the administration needs a law to postpone the elections. However, the two bills proposing it, House Bill 4146 and Senate Bill 2756, were shot down in the Senate. Senators said these were “unconstitutional.”

Thus, our leader Benigno Simeon (a.k.a. BS) recently invited the senators to the Palace, apparently to, er, inspire the senators to go for the postponement.

Only six of them came—four Liberal Party senators, and the two ex-military men, Sen. Panfilo Lacson and Sen. Antonio Trillanes.

In an apparent attempt to save face following the snub, the Palace boys sent out word that the “meeting” was only the first in a series that BS wants to have with the senators.

At the same time, the Palace boys announced that the administration would field candidates in the ARMM elections.

Now which is which? How do you take part in something that you want to cancel? The premise, after all, is that the elections would be delayed by two years. Above all, do you think all this conflict is good for business confidence in The Land of Promise called Mindanao?

Somehow the administration must be favoring one over the other, and business organizations believe that the administration still wants the postponement.

For how do you explain all this official talk, possibly even imagined scare stories, about bombings in Mindanao (albeit without casualties) and kidnappings that even led to the creation of another—what else—“task force.”

The administration also raised military and police “alerts” in Mindanao following the killing of Osama Bin Laden.

Business people doubt the supposed “kidnappings” in Mindanao. These are not reflected in crime statistics, according to a Filipino-Chinese anti-crime group.

As for the possibility of revenge attacks following the Osama killing, the administration increased alert levels in Mindanao but not in Metro Manila. Hmmm.

And here we are, naively thinking that terrorists normally prefer high-value targets like the metropolis over impoverished areas like the ARMM, which is still the poorest region in the country.

***

IN MINDANAO, nevertheless, despite the lingering power shortage, business is still good, possibly even on the way to booming.

A good indicator is the performance of publicly listed Phoenix Petroleum, one of the so-called indie oil companies that resulted from the oil sector deregulation.

The oil indies now account for about 20 percent of the domestic market, and their leader is Phoenix.

According to its founder, Dennis Uy, the company has the biggest service station chain in southern Mindanao, particularly in underserved ARMM and Cotabato, what foreign executives here know as the “red zone.” You know—do not go there!

Anyway, in terms of volume, the country’s biggest oil company Petron is still the leader in Mindanao, probably because of bulk purchases by institution buyers.

After only six years of operations, however, Phoenix today has about 180 stations all over the country, the majority of them in Mindanao.

The company still has a long way to go to becoming a major player like Petron (about 1,700 stations) or Shell (about a thousand) and Chevron (about 600).

Still, only four years ago in 2007, the stock market was laughing at the audacity of this upstart Phoenix to go for an IPO.

At that time, believing in the business model of Phoenix, Banco De Oro (belonging to the group of taipan Henry Sy) pushed for a measly P1.5 billion IPO for the company.

Today, those who invested in the Phoenix IPO should be enjoying a return of more than 60 percent. The IPO price was less than P10 per share. Now, the share is trading at more than P13 per, plus all the stock dividends that the company had declared.

Phoenix posted an amazing revenue growth in the past couple of years, with revenue now totaling P15 billion, compared to P2 billion when it listed in 2007.

Thus, for 2010 alone, the company remitted to the government taxes and duties amounting to about P1.5 billion, according to Dennis Uy.

How does he explain the impressive rise of Phoenix? He called it “strategic” location for most of the Phoenix gas stations. Meaning, really, Mindanao!

***

THE DEPARTMENT of Environment and Natural Resources recently closed down the operations of a mining company in Zamboanga del Sur. And, yes, we are still on the hot topic called Mindanao.

The company is called Lupa Pigegetawan Mining Company, which, according to the DENR, has been doing illegal mining operations in Bayog town, said to be rich in gold and iron.

The DENR said that Lupa was operating without the necessary permits from the DENR and even the local governments.

Accusations hurled at Lupa included human rights violations, particularly those committed by its security group known as the “AY-76.”

The security group is allegedly owned and controlled by retired officers of the Armed Forces. Oops.