Biz Buzz: DBP turf war

The united front being presented by the two top officials at state-owned Development Bank of the Philippines is, according to our sources, beginning to unravel.

It’s no secret, of course, that DBP chairman Jose “Pepo” Nuñez and the bank’s president, Francisco “Popoy” del Rosario, are backed by different principals (Nuñez being close to businessman and President Aquino ally Salvador “Buddy” Zamora, while Del Rosario is being backed by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima).

According to our sources, one of them has been quietly doing the rounds asking no less than Transportation Secretary Mar Roxas to have the other transferred to another post.

At stake in this little turf war is the ongoing witch hunt within the bank for alleged “anomalous deals” transacted during the previous administration (a daunting task, especially if all deals were done aboveboard), as well as the billions of pesos in resources controlled by the bank.

We won’t tell you who’s doing what at this point, but it bears watching who of the two will get his way. Just remember: Whoever gets transferred to another agency is the one who loses.—Daxim L. Lucas

MBA poster boy

Political activist-turned banker Antonio Moncupa Jr., president of East West Bank, has agreed to be the poster boy for the executive MBA program of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. The EMBA program is a general management program that usually recruits students who are in their mid-30s and have had ample working experience—about 10 to 14 years and therefore the sharing of experiences is deeper compared with the regular MBAs attended by younger people. Moncupa took this program in 2001 sponsored by his employer then, International Exchange Bank, where he was EVP. Moncupa said he could not have been able to afford the program, which was not cheap at around $100,000.

Though one does not need an MBA to be a tycoon (based on the experience of many tycoons in the Philippines who prospered based on their vision and common sense), Moncupa argues that an MBA—especially such an executive MBA program—would help the students acquire the skills and therefore gain a little more advantage over the others. Which is why most children of tycoons are being sent to graduate schools to prepare them for the eventual takeover of their parents’ empires.—Doris C. Dumlao

GOCC Commission-bound

Remember that lawyer who was being eyed to fill the last vacant slot on the Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas?

Well, he has begged off from the race after he was discreetly asked by the powers that be if he was interested to run the so-called “GOCC Commission” as its first head.

The what? Yes, you heard it right: The GOCC Commission. This is the body that will be formed under the newly enacted GOCC Law tasked with the oversight of all government-owned and -controlled corporations.

The commission will have oversight over agencies like Pagcor, PCSO, GSIS, MWSS, SSS, DBP, Land Bank and most other state-run acronyms you can think of.

Why him? Well, maybe it’s because he was one of the people who helped draft the law, which was sponsored by Sen. Franklin Drilon.

In any case, it should be interesting to watch how the GOCC Commission cleans up the often-abused (and cash-rich) government corporations over the next few years.—Daxim L. Lucas

Public float and taxes

As the deadline for publicly listed companies to comply with a minimum public float draws near, investors can at least take comfort in the fact that the Bureau of Internal Revenue has agreed to follow the end-November timeframe as well as the 10-percent across-the-board public ownership requirement set by the Philippine Stock Exchange for taxation purposes.

This means that after November 30, only listed firms compliant with the PSE’s 10-percent requirement will continue to enjoy the preferential tax rate of 1/2 of 1 percent of gross selling price on the sale, barter or exchange of shares of stock. Otherwise, investors will have to shell out 5- to 10-percent capital gains tax when they trade the shares of non-compliant companies.

There are about 40 or so companies that so far fall short of the requirement. On Tuesday, PSE president Hans Sicat said the bourse would make public the list of those companies after the deadline—or by December this year—so that investors would be better guided on this capital gains tax issue, which had been a disconcerting curtain-raiser for the equities market this 2011.—Doris C. Dumlao

Brokers’ regional party

The expected integration of five Southeast Asian equities trading platforms will happen as scheduled by the first quarter of 2012, PSE president Hans Sicat said. And ahead of this integration, Thailand will host at the end of this week (Thursday-Friday) a two-day brokers’ forum in Phuket. This will serve as a getting-to-know-you party while making trading participants representing each market more familiar with the upcoming integration. Some 19 or 20 local brokers are thus flying to Phuket to participate in this event, at their own cost of course, PSE president Hans Sicat said.

The next regional fellowship party… errr… forum, will be hosted by the Philippines, which has of course the opportunity to showcase its world-class beaches and other tourism hotspots.—Doris C. Dumlao

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