Coconut palace … International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine
Lagarde is welcomed by Vice-President Jejomar Binay during her courtesy call on
him at Coconut Palace in Pasay City last Friday. At the center, to Binay’s
right, is Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima. – Photo courtesy of INQUIRER
SO PRESIDENT Aquino was down with the flu last week, leaving
International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde no choice but
to meet with Vice President Jejomar Binay instead.
If you noticed Saturday’s front-page picture on the Inquirer showing
the Vice President and the IMF chief sharing a hearty laugh, it was because
Lagarde, upon being introduced to Binay, greeted him as “Mr President” (either
she still had P-Noy in mind or - as Binay’s fans are hoping - she had a vision of
events in 2016).
Discussions between Binay and Lagarde centered on the role that
overseas Filipino workers play in boosting the Philippine economy - OFWs being
one of the Vice- President’s favorite advocacies and capital flows being
Lagarde’s.
Lagarde must know a thing or two about expatriate Filipino workers
since the IMF headquarters in Washington, D.C., is staffed by a few hundred
Filipinos (the internal joke being that work at the IMF would stop if all
Filipinos suddenly go on strike).
In any case, Lagarde corrected herself after referring to Binay as the
President, to which Binay responded: “The IMF has always been known for
foresight.”
According to witnesses present, nervous laughter was heard at this
point from Budget Secretary and Liberal Party stalwart Florencio “Butch”
Abad. -- Daxim L Lucas
Lagarde on ‘sin’ taxes. During her press briefing in Malacañang, the IMF chief was asked by
reporters about her views on what constitutes good tax policy (given the
ongoing sin tax controversy).
She replied that, in general, “the criteria for good taxation are a
broad [tax] base and a very small rate [of increases].”
Sitting a few feet away from her in the press briefing room was Finance
Secretary Cesar Purisima who, of course, is pushing for a 1,000% increase in
the sin tax rate (over a three-year period).
Awkward. -- Daxim L Lucas
Pacman’s MP8. With the Christmas season fast approaching, Manny
“Pacman” Pacquiao last week raised the curtain for gift-giving in Congress,
where he now sits as a newbie lawmaker representing the lone district of
Sarangani. But the Pacman -w ho gained fame and fortune from boxing and is now
arguably the most famous Filipino athlete - went beyond the usual cookies, wine,
ham, chicharon, local handicraft and delicacies that congressmen give to each
other during the Yuletide season.
According to our reliable sources, Pacman gifted his peers with the
limited edition TechnoMarine watch designed in honor of the Filipino
international boxing champ. We’re talking about the timepiece “Manny Pacquiao
8” or “MP8” (The number 8 symbolizes Pacquiao’s eight world boxing championship
titles), which is selling at a retail price of P29,800. Each MP8 gift came with
a Christmas card that reads “Wishing You and Your Family a Blessed Holiday
Season from Hon Emmanuel and Mrs Jinkee Pacquiao.”
Now, because Pacman endorses TechnoMarine, he probably got a good
wholesale deal from the local distributor, if this isn’t part of his
endorsement package. Note that there are only 1,000 pieces of this limited
edition MP8 design, of which 287 are now owned by congressmen, assuming each
and every solon got a package from the Pacman.-- Doris C Dumlao
The Firm vs Chavez. The libel case filed by a partner of “The Firm”
against lawyer Frank Chavez has been yanked out of Bohol and transferred to
Metro Manila.
Favorably acting on Chavez’s request for a transfer of venue, the
Supreme Court pulled out the libel case from Bohol and assigned it to Pasig
City. The Supreme Court gave credit to Chavez’s averments that the libel case
in Bohol was filed only to harass him considering that the matters sued upon
emanated from trimedia based in Metro Manila, that “The Firm” and its lawyers
allegedly slandered also hold offices in Metro Manila, of the 11 libel cases
against Chavez, 10 were filed in Metro Manila and that the libel case filed in
Bohol stands out like a sore thumb, creating the impression that it was meant
to deliberately inconvenience Chavez.
Chavez has since filed a perjury charge against The Firm’s partner for
allegedly lying under oath that he was a Bohol resident when the libel case was
filed. To keep tab on the score, it is now 7-0 in favor of Chavez. (Four libel
cases dismissed, one perjury case dismissed, one damage suit dismissed and
Bohol case transferred to Pasig).
In response, a member of The Firm said: “If Chavez considers the mere
change of venue a win, he must really be getting desperate. Fact remains that
he is just out on bail for the moment. We wish him well in his defense.” -- Daxim
L Lucas
MVP in Bangsamoro. As we cited earlier, businessman Manuel V
Pangilinan aka MVP is looking southward and has hired a top consultant - a former
Cabinet member who is well-entrenched in Mindanao government, business and
politics - to look at opportunities in the region. Apart from agriculture, MVP’s
group is scouting for opportunities in power generation and distribution in
Mindanao to complement the power business under Manila Electric Co., a source
close to MVP said.
In agriculture, the group is drawing up more tangible plans to get into
banana, sugarcane, palm oil and rice production in line with its thrust to address
food security issues. For palm oil, a land area of 10 hectares has been
identified. For banana, the group wants to make sure there is a good
distribution arm for Asia, Europe and the United States.
The group is likewise looking at power generation and distribution in
Mindanao. “There is a power shortage and we are willing to invest,” the source
said. The power expansion in Mindanao will be done through Meralco, subject to
the leeway allowed by its franchise, or the acquisition of existing power plants
in the region. -- Doris C Dumlao
Daang Hari warning ignored. Prior to tendering the Daang Hari project,
a special meeting happened in December 2011 among the government’s economic
managers to tackle the PPP program. Attention was anchored on the Daang Hari project,
as they wanted to ensure the project’s success, being the maiden PPP project of
the Aquino administration.
Instead, its flaws are now coming out of the woodwork - but not without
warning, Biz Buzz learned.
According to a source, former National Economic and Development
Authority chief Dondon Paderanga wanted to re-advertise the new terms of
reference that altered both the tariff and concession period of the Daang Hari
concession. But his proposal was supposedly countered by a Department of
Finance deputy and an official of the PPP Center.
As his warning went unheeded, the government not only overlooked that
it may have disenfranchised potential bidders (which dropped out of the bidding
because of low returns and the short concession period), it may have also
unwittingly allowed the winning bidder to force the government to underwrite a
costly project revision. (The concession period was extended to 30 years from
25 years and the tariff adjusted north of 25 percent a week before the
bidding.)
Bad move. Looks like the former Neda chief was right, after all. -- Daxim
L Lucas
Rekindling UPM. While the Ramos family is working to restructure Vulcan
Industrial and Mining Corp. with the possible infusion of retail businesses, it
is also looking at its options for United Paragon Mining Corp (UPM), which has
an old producing gold mine - Longos Mine in Paracale, Camarines Norte, which
suspended operations in 2003 after reeling from the serious depletion of
economic reserves, high operating costs and low metal prices.
UPM would have been revived but because of the new mining framework,
getting a renewal of a mining permit is now difficult. As such, UPM is looking
at other assets in the area, particularly those already armed with the
much-coveted mineral production sharing agreement (MPSA).
“We’re looking into the other assets in the area,” says Adrian Ramos,
one of the company directors.
This developed as the family’s flagship mining unit Atlas Consolidated
Mining and Corp. attained a financial turnaround and is likely to start paying
dividends next year out of 2012 net profit (expected to slightly exceed the
2011 level of P2.6 billion). By next year, Atlas expects revenues and
production volume to grow 30 percent, resulting in a faster bottom-line growth.
Atlas is also set to ship out copper concentrates to Philippine Associated
Smelting and Refining Corp. before the year ends, the first time in nearly two
decades that the country’s only copper smelter and refinery will source inputs
from a local mining firm.-- Doris C Dumlao
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The Philippine Inquirer
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