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Monday - Tuesday I Apr. 1-2, 2013
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PAL Express intl flights Universal Robina gets to and from Singapore, go signal to venture HK to use NAIA2 into power generation STARTING Monday, April 1, Philippine Airlines Express international flights to and from two international destinations will use the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. In a post on its Twitter account, PAL said this will apply to its flights between Manila and Singapore and Manila and Hong Kong. “Effective April 1, 2013. PAL Express international flights for Manila-Singapore and Manila-Hong Kong will depart and arrive at NAIA
Terminal 2,” it said. PAL Express was Air Philippines (AirPhil) Express. Last March 15, it said it is “further strengthening” its alliance with PAL and “improving and aligning its service standards and product offerings” with those of PAL. “Reflecting this change, Airphil Express will rebrand itself as ‘PAL Express’ effective March 15, 2013. All Airphil Express planes will use the familiar ‘sunriser’
PAL livery and logo on its tail and fuselage,” it said. Passengers of PAL Express can also earn miles through their membership in Mabuhay Miles, it added. But PAL said it and PAL Express will “remain distinct and independent airline companies but following a single service standard.” “All PAL flights will be manned by PAL pilots and cabin crew, while PAL Express flights will be operated by Airphil Express pilots and flight attendants,” it added.
Robinsons Land get PEZA certification ROBINSONS LAND Corp. was granted a certificate of registration by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) as a new economic zone developer of two buildings, the agency said in a statement Wednesday. The firm will “establish, develop, administer, manage and operate information technology (IT) centers.” The registration is for its Cyber Alpha and Cyber Beta facilities in Ortigas Center in Pasig City. Cyber Alpha is located
along Sapphire and Garnet roads, while Cyber Beta is along Topaz and Ruby roads. Cyber Alpha is a 23-storey building with seven basements that sits on a 2,500-square-meter lot, while Cyber Beta is 36 stories tall and is on a 1,955-squaremeter lot. PEZA issued rules on Sept. 9 last year that disallowed developers of new information and technology parks in Metro Manila and Cebu from getting incentives like a 5% tax on gross
income in lieu of the 30% corporate income tax on net taxable income. “Developers can still apply to establish IT parks but they will have no incentives. Only locators inside their buildings will have these incentives,” Elmer H. San Pascual, PEZA Promotions and Public Relations manager, explained in a telephone interview. Incorporated in 1980, Robinsons Land is the property arm of listed conglomROBINSONS/PAGE 7
THE maker of C2 tea drink and Jack ‘N Jill obtained regulatory approval to venture into power generation. In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Universal Robina Corp (URC) said the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the amendment of the company’s secondary purpose in its Articles of Incorporation to include the business of power generation. The amendment is in line with the Gokongwei-led firm’s plan to put up a 40-megawatt biomass facility alongside its sugar mill in Negros Occidental. The company is looking to invest $1.5 million per megawatt for the proposed plant. URC also plans to use a portion of the plant’s output
for its own operations and sell the excess capacity to the grid. The company aims to complete the first phase of the project next year. The proposed biomass plant is the first foray of the Gokong wei group in t he power generation sector. The conglomerate is also in the property, airline, banking and tourism businesses. Besides the cogeneration plant, URC may also consider investing in other power generation projects. Manuel V. Pangilinan, cha i r ma n of Ph i l ippi ne Long Distance Telephone Co (PLDT), earlier said his group would be interested to talk to the Gokongweis should the latter decide to proceed with the power plant to support the requirements
of its petrochemical plant in Batangas. Earlier, JG Summit Holdings Inc, the listed holding firm of the Gokongwei family, said its naphtha cracker plant in Batangas City will be operational by the fourth quarter of this year. The Pangilinan group and the Gokongwei family have existing partnerships in telecom and airport operations. The Gokongweis two years ago sold Sun Cellular operator Digital Telecommunications Philippines Inc (Digitel) to PLDT, in exchange for a minority stake in the telecom giant. Both parties also teamed up to bid for the Mactan Cebu International Airport expansion project, a public-private partnership venture of the Aquino administration.
Pepsi Philippines bags generally favorable SC ruling in labor case BEVERAGE PRODUCER PepsiCola Products Philippines, Inc. (PCPPI) has obtained a generally favorable ruling from the Supreme Court (SC) that cleared the company of charges of unfair labor practice but also ordered it to reinstate a retrenched worker. A 17-page decision of the court’s second division -- penned by Associate Justice Estela M. Perlas-Bernabe; affirmed by division chairman Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio as well as associate justices Arturo D. Brion, Mariano C. del Castillo and Jose Portugal Perez; and promulgated last Feb. 18 -- “reversed and set aside” two Court of Appeals
rulings, dated March 31 and Sept. 18, 2006, cleared PCPPI of charges of union-busting and unfair labor practice, but also ordered the company to reinstate a retrenched worker “without loss of seniority rights but without back wages”. The high-court ruled on PCPPI’s petition after the appellate court reversed a generally favorable decision the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) issued in September 2002. The NLRC issued its decision to settle charges of illegal dismissal, union busting and unfair labor practice (ULP) filed
against PCPPI by members of the Leyte Pepsi-Cola Employees Union-Associated Labor Union (LEPCEU-ALU). The union members argued that the company-wide retrenchment program -- tagged as a Corporate Rightsizing Program -- which PCPPI implemented in 1999 on an initial batch of 47 workers had targeted the LEPCEU-ALU in order to enable the company’s union, Leyte Pepsi-Cola Employees UnionUnion de Obreros de Filipinas, “to retain its exclusive bargaining status”. The 47 affected workers included six elected officers and 29 members of the LEPCEU-ALU. Twenty-six of the affected union members were involved in the case against PCPPI. NLRC absolved the PCPPI of these charges, but ordered the company to reinstate a retrenched worker, Saunder Santiago Remandaban III, who had failed to report for work within the required 24 hours after receiving a return-to-work order when then Labor Secretary Bienvenido A. Laguesma endorsed the dispute to the commission for compulsory arbitration. The court noted “the NLRC ruled… that his failure to report to work was clearly prompted by a medical emergency and not by any intention to defy the July 27, 1999 return-to-work order…” The Supreme Court division said in its ruling, PCPPI’s “petition is meritorious” noting “the court finds it difficult to attribute any act of union busting or ULP on the part of Pepsi, considering that it retrenched its employees in good faith…” “Furthermore, the fact that Pepsi’s rightsizing program was implemented on a companywide basis dilutes respondents’ claim that Pepsi’s retrenchment scheme was calculated to stymie its union activities, much less diminish its constituency.”