IN BRIEF
Business group says more airports needed
THE International Chamber of Commerce urged the government to speed up the development of more airports in the country in the light of increasing mishaps, specially at the Manila gateway. ICC director-general Jesus Varela said the recent lightning alarm at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport should serve as an eye opener to the government and other airport operators. “Regardless of lightning, they should still operate. Many old and young people were trapped inside the plane that were not delayed but were not allowed to disembark due to lightning. A lot of people got listless and inconvenienced when in fact there are lightning arrests installed on top of the buildings. These are basic requirement to any building construction,” he said. Varela and several other ICC officials witnessed the incident since they were among the passengers of delayed flights, coming from Macau where they attended an international convention. Members of the group, he added, were one in saying that the government should rush the approval of new airports that can operate two or three more runways. Othel V. Campos
PH companies shun China import exhibit
MANY food processors are giving the upcoming China International Import Exhibition 2019 the cold shoulder after smarting from the alleged “booth fiasco” in 2018. Members of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry who are into food processing were discouraged by how the event operators handled exhibitors, especially the delegation from the Philippines. “Last time, everybody were so eager and excited. We had the momentum then, but this year only a few were convinced to participate due to the confusion on booth assignments and even in hotel accommodations,” said PCCI chairman emeritus Francis Chua. While booth booking increased by another $1,000 per booth to $3,000, Chua said the amount is not a deterrent. “The problem is the unwillingness of our food manufacturers to join the event. Last year, some even brought frozen fruits since there was no restrictions to that. But when the fruits arrived, those were held at the ports and were released a week after the event. This kind of inconsistencies added to our members lack of interest to join CIIE,” Chua said. Othel V. Campos
SSS says pension releases reach P1b
STATE-RUN Social Security System said pension loan releases reached the P1-billion mark, benefitting nearly 42,000 individuals since it implemented the Pension Loan Program in September 2018. But SSS president and chief executive Aurora Ignacio said over the weekend while the program met its objective to provide immediate financial assistance to pensioners for their short-term and emergency needs, they should be vigilant and avoid transacting with “fixers” for their transactions, especially for the pension loan program. “We are pleased to note that our pensioners are now relying on SSS for their immediate financial needs instead of going to loan sharks. But sad to say, there are people who take advantage of our pensioners during their times of need. This has to stop. And this will only stop if our pensioners will no longer entertain any deal with these individuals who exploit them,” she said. Julito G. Rada
Business Lucio Tan group keen on $1.5-b LNG project T By Alena Mae S. Flores
HE group of taipan Lucio Tan plans to invest in a $1.5-billion liquefied natural gas facility in partnership with a foreign company.
Gerry Tee, overall head of the distilleries operations of LT Group Inc., said the LNG facility could be located in the group’s 38-hectare Batangas property. “Project of Lucio ‘Bong’ Tan Jr. and his dad to utilize the Pinamucan property in Batangas as a possible site for LNG project. We’ve been looking at our assets and we saw this,” Tee said. He said a power unit of the group planned to team up with a foreign company on the LNG facility. “Once they apply (with) DoE, we will announce,” said Tee. The Pinamucan property houses
Himmel Industries Inc., a chemical trading company, while a portion hosts the fuel jet tanks of Philippine Airlines. Tee said Himmel Industries might be relocated if the LNG plans pushed through. Tee said the LT Group was looking at putting up re-gasification facilities, LNG terminal and power plants with a capacity of about 1,000 megawatts. “Initial data, we need around $1.5 billion for the power plant, regas and distribution. We are in the initial stages of getting permits and to reconfigure the land to put up the equipment,” he said. Tee said there was still room for growth in the emerging LNG industry. “We can compete. It’s a big pie. Our advantage is we own the land (and we’re near the substation and transmission lines). We know that Malampaya is depleting soon (and) we want to take this opportunity to expand and utilize the land. We are just looking for better partners,” he said. The younger Tan earlier stressed the need to develop clean and renewable
energy projects in the future. Tan has encouraged his company executives to develop an ability to “go on offensive business mode” to adopt to a changing world advocating technologies that are environmentally-responsible and help ease the impacts of climate change. “Our thrust is to participate and develop clean and renewable energy projects for our sustainability... reduce our carbon footprint to underscore our commitment to help mitigate the effects of climate change,” said Tan, who is president and chief executive officer of Tanduay Distillers Inc. “I believe this is incumbent upon us as a responsible corporate entity, where we can invest in technologies that will unravel economic opportunities for the group and our employees,” he added. Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi earlier said a Japanese company expressed interest to put up a 1,000-megawatt power project that will run on liquefied natural gas in the Philippines “A Japanese company will be the one
RCBC AWARDS. The
Asset magazine recognizes the noteworthy transactions financed and arranged by Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. and RCBC Capital Corp. The accolades cited the participation of RCBC and RCAP in the financing of major infrastructure projects. The awards include Transport Deal of the Year (Philippines), Renewable Energy Deal of the Year (Vietnam) and PPP Deal of the Year (Philippines) under The Asset’s Asia Infrastructure 2019 “Best Deals by Country” category.
SEC wants listed companies to disclose salaries of top executives By Jenniffer B. Austria THE Securities and Exchange Commission wants listed companies to comply with the rules on the disclosure of salaries of top executives under the Revised Corporate Code. Section 29 of the Revised Corporation Code which took effect in February this year provides that “corporations vested with public interest shall submit to their shareholders and the Commission an annual report of the total compensation of each of their directors and trustees.” The SEC noted that most of the listed companies in their 2018 annual reports
filed with the corporate regulator in April clustered the salaries of directors and did not itemize them. Ayala Land Inc. in its 2018 annual report disclosed that total annual compensation of the president and top four highly compensated executives amounted to P235.25 million in 2018. Metro Pacific Investments Corp. in its 2018 annual report also disclosed that the aggregate compensation it paid in 2018 for its top five executives amounted to P115.9 million in terms of salaries and P89.1 million in bonuses. Meanwhile, the SEC said it was finalizing a plan to increase the public own-
ARTHUR TY HONORED.
Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. chairman Arthur Ty receives The Asian Banker CEO Leadership Achievement Award for the Philippines at the recently concluded awarding ceremonies at Bangkok, Thailand. Ty attributed the award to the people behind Metrobank’s transformation journey. Ty grew up working his way through the bank from doing simple daily tasks and learning from mentors to leading the institution. Ty’s MBA degree from Columbia University, and his Western theoretical knowledge combined with his Chinese and Filipino street-smarts, were pivotal in his leadership style.
ership of listed companies on a staggered basis. SEC chairperson Emilio Aquino said in a recent interview the commission would hold this month a strategic planning on how to develop the domestic capital markets, including increasing the minimum public ownership. “We have to do it because we to develop the capital market and the only way is to is to us to do this,” Aquino said. The SEC during the strategic planning will invite resource speakers from the Asian Development Bank and the private sector to help the corporate reg-
ulator determine the right time to implement a higher public ownership. Depending on the outcome of the strategic planning, Aquino said the SEC was considering implementing the increase in the public ownership requirement on a staggered basis, initially from the current 10 percent to 15 percent and eventually to 20 percent. The SEC in 2017 identified 68 listed companies companies with a public float of less than 20 percent. The SEC earlier required companies planning to conduct a initial public offering to comply with the 20-percent minimum public ownership.
Palawan’s power, transmission projects cleared SEVERAL projects of power and transmission plans of state-run National Power Corp. in Palawan were certified as energy projects of national significance by the Energy Investment Coordination Council of the Department of Energy Napocor said in a statement over the weekend the certification was granted to the Palawan island service delivery improvement projects which consisted of capacity additions to eight existing Small Power Utilities Group plants and installation of new generating sets to 18 new areas with a combined capacity of 5.3 megawatts. The projects are expected to improve supply reliability in the island. “With the priority status from EICC–DoE, we hope to expedite the bidding, awarding and implementation process of the said projects,” Napocor president and chief executive officer Pio Benavidez said. Existing projects covered by the EICC certificate include Agutaya Diesel Power Plant, Araceli DPP, Balabac DPP, Cagayancillo DPP, Culion DPP, Cuyo DPP, Linapacan DPP and Rizal DPP. Meanwhile, the new areas where power facilities will be established are located in the
island or far-flung villages in the municipalities of Taytay (fpur areas), Cuyo (two areas), Coron (two areas), Linapacan (two areas), Balabac (two areas), Araceli, Culion, Agutaya, El Nido, Busuanga and San Vicente. Another certificate on EPNS was granted to Napocor’s Palawan grid development projects consisting of nine transmission and substation projects. These are the Brooke’s Point to Bataraza transmission line, Taytay to El Nido, Alimanguhan Swtiching Station project, Alimanguhan Switching Station to San Vicente transmission line, Bataraza substation project, Brooke’s Point substation expansion project, and substations in El Nido, San Vicente and Taytay. “These transmission line projects will complete the backbone transmission system of the province, and strengthen power reliability and stability,” said Benavidez. Palawan, being the fifth largest island in the Philippines and which spans to 434 kilometers long, requires several projects to secure its power supply and operations. Early this year, Napocor garnered the same certificate on 23 projects in various power facilities in off-grid areas in the country. Alena Mae S. Flores
Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com MONDAY, JUNE 17, 2019
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Moratorium on new flights to Caticlan and Kalibo issued By Darwin G. Amojelar THE Civil Aeronautics Board issued a moratorium on new and additional flights to Kalibo and Caticlan to preserve the gains of the Boracay rehabilitation. The CAB said in a June 10 resolution its board imposed a moratorium on all new or additional scheduled and charter flights to Kalibo and Caticlan airports in order to keep tourist flows in check. President Rodrigo Durtere earlier issued a directive that only 6,405 tourists can enter the island of Boracay daily to sustain environmental and other gains achieved during the island’s six-month closure when it was rehabilitated. “Since the reopening of Boracay last October 26, 2018, tourist arrivals have slowly crept up and past the 6,405-daily tourist arrival especially during the month of April 2019,” the CAB said. It said the carrying capacity of the island of Boracay was determined to be 19,215 warm bodies at any given time. Boracay Island was closed to the public for six months from April 26 to October 26, 2018. Boracay is popular with Chinese and South Korean visitors, which are the largest markets of the Philippines tourism industry. The Department of Public Works and Highways in March said the first phase of the Boracay Circumferential Road Rehabilitation Project was substantially completed. The first phases which covers the concreting of two-lane Portland Concrete Cement Pavement road, including sidewalks with paving blocks, ramps and planting strips. The completion of the first phase means the 2.66-kilometer section from Cagban Port to Hue Hotel and the 1.462-kilometer segment from Hue Hotel to Elizalde will be fully opened to motorists. Pubic Works Secretary Mark Villar said the agency would also start the civil works for Boracay Circumferential Road Rehabilitation Project Phase 2, which will start from the Elizalde property passing through Ambassador Hotel to City Mall, with the length of 1.9 kilometers.
External debt ratios at prudent levels—Diokno By Julito G. Rada BANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno said over the weekend the country’s external debt ratios remain at prudent levels despite an increase in the first quarter of the year. Diokno said the outstanding external debt stood at $80.4 billion at the end of March 2019, up $1.5 billion or 1.9 percent from $79.0 billion at the end of December 2018. “The growth in the debt level during the first quarter was due mainly to net availments of $1.8 billion as the national government raised $1.5 billion from the issuance of global bonds to fund the NG’s general financing requirements, and positive audit adjustments,” he said in a statement. “However, the rise in the debt stock was tempered by the increase in residents’ investments in Philippine debt papers, including government bonds issued offshore,” he said. The debt stock on year reflected an increase of $7.2 billion, brought about by net availments of $9.2 billion and adjustments $960 million in the previous period. Diokno said the upward impact on the debt stock was partially offset by transfer of Philippine debt papers from non-residents to residents and negative foreign exchange revaluation adjustments of $740 million. External debt refers to all types of borrowings by Philippine residents from non-residents, following the residency criterion for international statistics. As of end-March 2019, the maturity profile of the country’s external debt remained predominantly medium- and long-term in nature, or those with original maturities longer than one year, with share to total at 79.1 percent.