BDOPB FORUM: PH banks can support infrastructure projects

WITH the government allotting some P9 trillion for infrastructure development in the next six years, a key executive of one of the country’s biggest water concessionaires has expressed confidence the local banking industry has enough liquidity to finance the lined-up infrastructure undertakings.

In a forum titled “Build, Build, Build—Achieving Sustainable & Inclusive Growth” held recently by BDO Private Bank (BDOPB) for select high net worth clients, Maynilad president and chief executive officer Ramoncito S. Fernandez said as long as the government can maintain a stable economy and the sanctity of contracts are guaranteed and honored, private companies will be motivated to invest in these infrastructure projects.

At the same time, he urged local businesses to keep their investments within the confines of the domestic economy to boost the Philippine banking industry and also positively impact the infrastructure initiatives of the government.

“Continue believing in the Philippine banking industry. Don’t bring your money outside. Our banks have enough liquidity to support these projects,” he told the forum’s attendees.

BDOPB, s of end-June 2017, has assets under management worth P371.28 billion.

It has built an onshore model that serves the market’s emerging wealthy to the ultra-high net worth segment, comparable to that of its bigger global counterparts.

While private banking is still a developing market in the Philippines, BDOPB has already developed a niche segment to meet key objectives such as growing personal investments, establishing a stable family wealth plan, and estate planning.

Aside from Fernandez, other invited panelists in the event include former Finance Sec. Margarito “Gary” Teves, International Finance Corp. Senior Investment Officer Lulu Baclagon, and Marie Christine Tang, an economist and local partner in the Philippines of New York-based think tank Global Source. Meanwhile, CNN Philippines president and Emmy Awards winner Armie Jarin-Bennett served as the Forum’s moderator.

Teves, for his part, said the government should encourage more private sector participation in projects that are commercially viable other than just relying on a hybrid Public-Private Partnerships (PPP).

Under a hybrid PPP, government will build the infrastructure projects and later bid out the operations and maintenance to the private sector.

“I would not advise the setup wherein it’s the government first that spends for the project and then the private sector comes in later on for the maintenance. The private sector should be fully involved with the project implementation at the onset,” he said.

“Another problem with big-ticket mass transport projects is they will surely entail huge user fees to recover the costs. The government needs to subsidize it if the rates have to be kept manageable.”

Baclagon, on one hand, said there should be long-term planning in the development of projects.

“We can’t stop with the subway project. We’ve always been piecemeal with our planning and project implementation. Metro Manila would need 700 kilometers in mass transport system to sufficiently address the needs of people living and working in Metro Manila,” she said.

One of the highlights of the government’s ambitious infrastructure initiative is the P227- billion Mega Manila Subway project, a 25-km underground transportation system connecting major business districts and government centers. In its first year, it is expected to serve 370,000 passengers per day.

It will be funded through Official Development Assistance.

Meanwhile, Tang said that the government should be clear on how projects would be funded, whether through taxes or user fees.

The government plans to appropriate P847.2 billion in the 2017 national budget for infrastructure projects, or approximately 5.3 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), the highest allotment of a portion of GDP for infrastructure spending in 30 years.

BDOPB is a wholly owned subsidiary of BDO Unibank serving the affluent market.

BDO is a full-service universal bank which provides a wide range of corporate and retail banking services.

These services include traditional loan and deposit products, as well as treasury, trust banking, investment banking, private banking, rural banking, cash management, leasing and finance, remittance, insurance, retail cash cards and credit card services.

BDO has one of the largest distribution networks, with more than 1,100 operating branches and over 3,700 ATMs nationwide.

It also has a full-service branch in Hong Kong as well as 26 overseas remittance and representative offices in Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East.

BDO ranked as the largest bank in terms of total assets, loans, deposits and trust funds under management based on published statements of condition as of end-first quarter.

Hitachi seen bidding on government’s subway, railway ventures

JAPANESE conglomerate Hitachi Ltd. has set its eyes on winning the contract for at least two transportation mega deals in the Philippines, negotiating with Filipino companies for possible partnership.

Hitachi Rail System Global Chief Strategy Officer Shinya Mitsudomi said his group wants to participate in the bidding for the P277-billion Mega Manila Subway and the P255-billion Manila-Clark Railway, both of which will be funded through Tokyo’s official development assistance.

“We are very much interested in participating in the rail projects of the Philippines,” he said. “The projects we are now focusing on are the Tutuban to Clark Airport Railway; another project might be the Metro Manila Subway.”

The group has also started talking with “several” Filipino companies for a possible partnership for the two deals. He did not disclose which groups Hitachi is in talks with but noted that these are “new players” and “existing rail operators” alike.

Building the Metro subway and BRT: How hard can it be?

Boggling the millenials

Just to boggle the imagination of today's traffic-spawned millenials, I used to tell them this story. When I was a young laddie in the sixties [late] and seventies, prize meals, worth a long drive could only be found in two places in Quezon City; a four course sizzling steak dinner at Open Steak House in a cul de sac just off West Avenue and a ten course Cantonese set menu at Kowloon House restaurant on West Avenue, near the Delta junction of Quezon Boulevard, today's Quezon Avenue.

One Peso toll, 25 minutes point to point

It didn't matter that my assigned seat in the family Rambler station wagon was the rear most row rear facing seat. The prize meal was reward enough to keep immune from motion sickness. For the princely sum of Peso 1.00 toll from Meycauayan to Balintawak on the spanking new North Diversion Road, foodie heaven was a consistent 25 minutes away; from the ancestral home in Malhacan, at lunch time, rain or shine, hell or high water. In those days, there wasn't a Balintawak Cloverleaf produce market whose expanse and refuse would clog the creek and flood Highway 54, a.k.a. EDSA today.

Mega billion projects

With several billions worth of infrastructure spent over 7 administrations, 37.8B and 378.0B, respectively may look like small beer today, specially that the tenure of the PRRD administration is programmed to spend 8.4 Trillion Pesos for this “Golden Age of Infrastructure”. With the administration's turnabout emphasis on GA construction, funded by PPP to O&M 37.8B will buy us the Metro-Manila EDSA BRT and the JICA sponsored ODA, the Metro Manila Subway for 378.0B. As the signing of these and more are being rushed, the cost-benefit analysis and feasibility studies are straining to keep up.

EDSA takes it all

The EDSA BRT will run on the 48.6km Monumento to MOA length of EDSA with 3 loops – one to Ortigas Center, another to BGC and then Ayala CBD. The Metro Manila Subway on the other hand as planned by the Japanese starts burrowing at Quezon Memorial and connects to Ayala CBD, BGC and MoA with a spur to NAIA.

Cheaper and deeper than light rail

According to transport authorities, the EDSA BRT justifies itself for cost considerations as BRT's are faster to build/operate and cheaper to capitalize vs. Light Rail systems. The higher capacity Subway on the other hand is justified on the need not to disturb the already coagulated surface transport within the greater Makati jurisdiction, even as costs are multiplied by a factor of ten.

Arteries and capillaries

Presently, the crucial C-4 circumferential road of the Metro, otherwise known as EDSA, serves as the distributive artery for commute journeys to all the bursting CBD's and east-west transport corridors that grew along EDSA's main lateral junctions; Grace Park, Cubao, Ortigas, Ayala, etc. Along with C-3, C-5 and C-6, it is one among the several planned but partially completed ring roads that expanded concentrically to link 5 other “R” or Radial roads that spread outward from the core, Manila City, to form the Greater Manila urban area. Thanks to the accelerated economic growth that rolled from the early 90's, all these roads are clogged earning the reputation as one of the world's longest urban rush hours. Not surprising since road and transport infrastructure is forty years behind the demand curve.

Urban sprawl from the Metro employer magnet

As urban planners proposed, the best and fastest way to alleviate massive congestion was to urban sprawl. Industries relocated south along the SLEx, along with countless bedroom communities. But the main employment generator was still what is now known today as Metro Manila. Road building and transport just couldn't catch up with the increasing demand. All forms of traffic reduction measures and enhanced traffic rules enforcement are being tried continuously, but traffic congestion remains.

Transfer all ports, air and sea

Nevertheless, there are low hanging fruit that just need a regulatory push. Easing access and distributing container traffic to the ports of Batangas to the south and Subic to the northwest would greatly ease the already expanded capacity of Manila's North Harbor. Transferring more landing slots from NAIA to Clark would also greatly alleviate air traffic. On paper, the road network to these entrepôts already exist from the STAR expressway to the south and the SCTEx to the north, but the main bottleneck is still transiting through Metro Manila.

Complete the cross metro highways

The medium term solution lies in two cross Metro tollways; MMSS3 [Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3] and the NLEx connector or MLEx [Metro Link Expressway]. The third leg of this trans-metro highway is the completion of C-5 which still needs the NLEx link via Segment 8.2 from Luzon Ave. and the C-5-CAVITEx link from NAIA Skyway-Merville. MMSS3 won't be finished by 2018, MLEx by 2020 and the ends of C-5, perhaps 2020 unless emergency powers speed up the right of way acquisition. To this, we did not add all the other ODA funded projects, the Calamba to Matnog South Rail project, the Tutuban to Malolos North South commuter rail project and the Malolos to Clark NAIA-Clark rail link, all of which will still need feasibility studies, bidding and of course, a hopeful deadline.

Dispersing transport hubs

The next three years of commuting traffic looks bleak. And even if all the three above cited cross metro highways are operational, Urban Planner Felino Palafox predicts that, unless major industry and transport hub dispersal isn't done now, in three years time the two elevated tollways and C-5 will just become parking lots.

Integrated bus terminals

What to do? Besides the on-going expansion of MRT-3, LRT-2 and LRT-1 ridership capacity, the other near term panacea is to push through with BRT on EDSA. This is after controlled bus dispatch and segregated bus stops has long been implemented. Dispersal of bus terminals from Pasay and Cubao to the outer integrated bus terminals in the North, South, Southwest and East cannot be implemented as the 4 major bus terminals will take another three to four years to complete.

BRT from the BF era

The BRT as planned during the tenure of Chairman Bayani Fernando of the MMDA [2005-2009] could not be maximized as a dedicated exclusive 2-lane guideway on EDSA because EDSA already gave up 2 middle lanes for the roller coaster MRT-3 route. Adding the two exclusive yellow lanes for buses would have meant squeezing the more numerous private vehicles to just 3 lanes.

Circulatory and distributive

Now, restricting private vehicles on EDSA to favor HOVs [high occupancy vehicles] like buses is traffic planning SOP. But EDSA is the sole functioning commute distributor of the city to all the CBD's on the lateral fringes of EDSA. Hence banning private vehicles from EDSA en masse would impact business activity and also blockade north south transit traffic even as industry and transport hub dispersal is effected. Moreover, the competing/augmenting EDSA commuter carriers – MRT-3, regular buses- all squeeze on the same surface roadways. Thus, a BRT dedicated busway would further reduce EDSA vehicle capacity and restrict cross-EDSA's circulatory/distributive traffic function.

Legal counterflow

The MMDA of BF concluded then that to make BRT work, it would need to run like some successful BRT's do in other countries; i.e. the dedicated bus lane would need to travel in the opposite direction of traffic. It will also need to hug the curbside since EDSA's median, the ideal placement of a BRT, is already occupied by MRT-3.

Kicking out the yellow lane buses

What this means is that the BRT buses will be right hand drive and the access entry and exit doors will be on the curbside. These BRT buses will travel contra-flow and stay, single file, close to the curb- the existing yellow lane, making it ideal to run on an overhead electric catenary system similar to a trolley bus or rubber tired tram. To keep the bus stop and bus way exclusive to the BRT, planners were considering a higher ramp for door access at the bus stops so as to keep non-BRT buses from using the BRT contra-flow lane. Besides, regular buses wouldn't be able to dock on BRT bus stops and being left hand drive with passenger exit on the traffic side, they would have lost access to the yellow lane curb anyway.

Also kick out the terminals

For BRT to work, MMDA would have to kick out all the bus companies plying EDSA. Which would include all the provincial bus companies that “carbarn” in Cubao and Pasay. Naturally, the Bus companies were not going to let this happen. Even if all four integrated bus terminals were already up and running, bus companies with existing EDSA franchises will not roll over and play dead once a BRT is made exclusive to EDSA and the three proposed loops on Ortigas, BGC and Ayala.

C-5's problems

The planned BRT for C-5 also faces the same problems. Many portions of C-5 have sections too narrow for any exclusive BRT guideway. These chicanes are the flyovers and at grade service roads of the Kalayaan twinned elevated U-turns, Bagong Ilog flyover, Ortigas-C-5 flyover, Libis-Blue Ridge tunnel and flyover complex and the Luzon Ave.-Commonwealth flyover. This list doesn't even include the proposed Katipunan express viaduct that rises above the Katipunan junctions to Ateneo-Miriam and CPGarcia in UP. Nor the C-5 elevated tollway from Libis to Luzon Ave. as proposed by Metro Pacific Tollways.

The PhilTrak solution

Like a long suppressed blast from the past, PHILTRAK, the original BRT, born in the Philippines since 1989 and continuously updated as a mass transit network for the Metro since 1999, seems to have a workable and far more economic solution. Now a fully beefed up consortium of domestic providers of technology, skilled labor, local manufacturing, engineering design, transport and finance PHILTRAK envisages a BRT network on EDSA, C-5, Commonwealth and Quezon Ave. that will snuggle up on the curbside with dedicated elevated boarding platforms for commuters. PHILTRAK will only take one half of today's current double yellow bus lane. In tight areas on some junctions of EDSA and C-5, PHILTRAK will have one bus guideway elevated over the at-grade traveling in opposite directions. So as not to antagonize the bus firms that heavily invested in terminals in Cubao and Pasay, PHILTRAK will invite the bus firms to be a member of the consortium and now function as intermodal transport to the feeder routes of the PHILTRAK mainline.

Subway, the pipe dream

What would take longer to build but hopefully minimize any kind of surface traffic aggravation is the Subway. Though Metro Manila is flood prone, today's technology makes even cross harbor subway crossings feasible, though the expense of keeping the subway flood free would be more than considerable. Compared to Manhattan [bedrock] and Hong Kong [granite], Metro Manila's substrata is mostly adobe, porous and easier to bore. Burrowing technology can easily dig deep enough to avoid disturbing the foundations of the buildings and dwellings of BGC, Ayala CBD and MoA, and the areas to be serviced by the Subway. The Upcoming Japanese funded USD7.0B subway from Quezon Memorial Circle to BGC and NAIA [MoA later on]studiously take the Metro's high ground to avoid the flood prone coast though it would skirt the Marikina Valley Fault line. The future Ayala CBD loop will be an engineering feat considering what lies beneath this country's skyscraper dense city. What needs to be clarified are the property rights of such as our laws are not clear on such matters. Being a judicial matter, expect issues on this to be not as simple as cut and shut.

All of EDSA as a pedestrian zone

If both the Subway and BRT are finished and the 3 cross metro highways are whole and functioning, only then can we revisit Felino Palafox's proposal to convert EDSA and its last overdue flyover complexes [Tramo-Taft-Roxas Blvd. and Roosevelt-North-West Ave.] into a garden parkway consisting of BRT, MRT-3, bikeways, broad and landscaped pedestrian “highways” [like in Seoul, S. Korea and High Line in Manhattan] while instituting the U-turn systems, limited access for private vehicle traffic to cross EDSA and banning all forms of through or transit traffic for private vehicles. This is in conjunction with Mr. Palafox's long time reminders of tripling the number of bridges across the Pasig and his more recent proposal of building more foot bridges crossing the Pasig spaced 800m apart.

Gloom, doom and our near term solution

We admit, we present a gloomy picture for the next 6 years despite the zeal and the bright direction of the PRRD administration. Even if emergency powers were enacted for traffic alleviation and even if there are willing financiers, the big ticket items like the EDSA BRT and Subway are going to be a heavy debt burden while positive results are not absolutely guaranteed. Still, a lot can be achieved by dispersing the bus terminals, air and sea transport hubs, and applying our favorite quick but flexible solution that we previously proposed : congestion charging like London's and Singapore's ERP but using the simpler E-PASS platform.

https://www.autoindustriya.com/inside-man/building-the-metro-subway-and-brt-how-hard-can-it-be.html

EDITORIAL Dialogue works

After a decade, a common station that will link three railways in Metro Manila is finally pushing through. Ending years of controversy, the government broke ground for the project last Friday, with officials of all private-sector stakeholders as witnesses.

The project was planned in 2007. In September 2009, the state-run Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) accepted P200 million from SM Prime Holdings Inc. as goodwill money in exchange for locating the common station beside the Annex at SM North City Edsa and naming rights to it.

That deal was finalized when Leandro Mendoza, since deceased, was transportation and communications secretary.

In April 2014, then Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya decided to include the common station in the bidding for the P65-billion extension of LRT Line 1. It was won by the consortium of businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan’s Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Ayala Corp., whose Trinoma mall is in front of SM City North Edsa and is the last stop of the MRT3 line.

Abaya insisted then that a common station near Trinoma would save the government P1 billion. This prompted SM to sue the government for breach of the September 28, 2009 agreement on the common station being located near The Annex at SM City North Edsa.

In August 2014, the Supreme Court stopped the transportation department and the LRTA from transferring the location of the common station to Trinoma.

This as Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya said Friday morning the department would likely move to next week the awarding of the LRT Line 1 Cavite Extension project contract -- which includes the common station design segment -- to the Ayala-Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) consortium. "We are still waiting for two signatures in the Light Rail Authority (LRTA) Board Resolution and an Office of the Solicitor General (OSG)," Mr. Abaya said in a text message.

Acting on the petition for injunction which SM Prime Holdings, Inc. (SMPHI) filed last July 23, the high court issued an indefinite temporary restraining order on Wednesday barring DoTC and LRTA "from proceeding with the transfer" of the common station site.

The high court also ordered DoTC and LRTA to comment on SM Prime’s petition within 10 days from notice.

Given the importance of the project, Abaya pushed for a compromise and even suggested two small common stations — one each in The Annex at SM City North Edsa and in Trinoma. The decision on the project hung for the remainder of the Aquino III administration.

When President Duterte appointed Arthur Tugade as transportation chief last year, one of his first official promises was to solve the impasse on the common station within his first 100 days in office. And this he did, brokering a compromise to locate the common station between the competing malls.

In September 2016, Tugade called all private stakeholders to a dialogue to come up with a solution to the common station problem. Last Jan. 18, a memorandum of agreement was signed among the private stakeholders, the Department of Transportation, and the LRTA outlining the design parameters for a new P2.8-billion common station at the new location.

The delay had jacked up the cost to P2.8 billion from the P2.6 billion estimated in 2009, although the government said the higher price was due to the fact that the station would be bigger or, as Tugade had explained, the new location has an area of 13,700 square meters with almost double the capacity of the original 2009 design.

A major lesson to be learned in this unfortunate episode is that dialogue is key to solving the problem. The penchant of complaining parties or losing companies to hale their competitors to court has never resulted in a win-win situation. It has only delayed many vital projects and caused heavy losses to them and the public that their projects were supposed to serve.

The DOTr should be commended for being able to bring together SM’s Tessie Sy and Hans Sy, Ayala Corp.’s Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, San Miguel Corp. big boss Ramon Ang, and Metro Pacific’s Pangilinan to the table and discuss what could be done to proceed with the common railway station. With the resolution, construction of MRT7 along Commonwealth Avenue to Araneta-Colinas Verdes Subdivision, City of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan by SMC’s unit Universal LRT Corp., which bagged the 25-year concession agreement for the railway line in 2008, can now also go full blast.

The common station that will connect Mega Manila Subway, MRT7, MRT3 and LRT1 will provide a head-to-head platform where train commuters can conveniently transfer from one line to another.

What remain to be done now — and these could be the potential bottlenecks that could delay the project moving forward — would be the right-of-way delivery by the government and how SM and Ayala would go about naming the common station given the fact that both now have naming rights to the project.

If it is delivered on time, commuters in Metro Manila will finally enjoy the convenience of a common station by early 2020.

Read more: http://opinion.inquirer.net/107577/dialogue-works#ixzz4uKdTU781
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Presidential adviser’s call: Bring back PPP

THE government should strengthen its relationship with the country’s private sector, starting with bringing back Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in the implementation of big-ticket infrastructure projects.

This was the call made by Jose Ma. “Joey” Concepcion III, presidential adviser for entrepreneurship, during the 26th Visayas Area Business Conference (VABC) in Cebu City last Friday.

“We have to build the airports, bridges, roads, and all of that. We have to be open to bringing back the PPP. We need entrepreneurs to help government,” he said.

Speaking to around 400 delegates composed of business chamber members from all over the Visayas, Concepcion said involving the private sector in these government undertakings will ensure continuity in the vision for a better economy.

The Duterte administration earlier decided that most of the large PPP projects would be funded by the government or overseas development assistance (ODA) loans.

On the other hand, the private sector in many of these deals would only be allowed to bid for the operations and maintenance component.

The country’s PPP program suffered a major blow last May as the Department of Transportation canceled plans to bid out contracts to modernize, operate, and maintain five regional airports in Davao, Bacolod, Iloilo, Laguindingan and New Bohol.

Earlier reports said the department would instead pursue these projects, estimated to cost P108 billion, using funds from the government or through ODA loans.

By excluding the private sector from major components of these projects, Concepcion said the government may miss out on the “unique” vision that comes with an entrepreneurial mindset.

He mentioned Engineer Edgar Saavedra, who founded Megawide Construction Corporation, which forms part of the GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation (GMCAC), the private operator of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA), as one with a “fantastic vision.”

“His (Saavedra) vision is to have your Cebu airport beat Manila. He wants everyone to land in Cebu and take a flight to Manila. That means tourism here will really explode. Will you get that from a secretary? Not really because that is unique,” Concepcion said.

While he recognized that the Cabinet secretaries are hard-working, he also urged them to bring back PPP, stressing that there will be no continuity in vision without the private sector especially with administrations changing every six years.

“Give the construction of a subway to government because it will be too expensive, but management can be bid out down the road eventually. The private sector is really the best in managing things under proper rules. The government regulates and makes sure the public is taken care of in terms of rates and efficiency,” he added.

Concepcion added that allowing the private sector build and manage these projects would mean less expense for the government.

The government planned to spend over P1 trillion for infrastructure projects next year and a total of up to P9 trillion until 2022 under its ambitious “Build, Build, Build” program.

These include roads, bridges, airports, and mass transport systems, among others, spread across the country.


Read more: http://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/149110/presidential-advisers-call-bring-back-ppp#ixzz4uLS9U18n
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Solon seeks abolition of GOCC commission

ALEADER of the House of Representatives last Sunday urged the Palace and the leadership of the 17th Congress to abolish the Governance Commission for the government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs).

In line with the call of President Duterte to eliminate redundant, duplicative and overlapping functions and organizations of the Executive Branch, at least 20 lawmakers have authored House Bill (HB) 3014 repealing of Republic Act (RA) 10149, or GOCC Governance Act of 2011, and abolishing the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG).

House Committee on Public Information Chairman Party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy of Bagong Henerasyon, one of authors of the HB 3014, said instead of piloting the development and growth of GOCCs, the GCG “became another bureaucratic layer in the already-confounded structure of checks and balances and has been taking up valuable time and resources of the GOCCs”.

“We deem this abolition as necessary and we embodied our sentiments in House Bill 3014. The GCG is too slow. There are still too many GOCCs or state corporations,” she said.

“Functions and duties of the abolished GCG will be transferred to different departments with similar functions and duties. My prime candidate to take over GCG functions is the Presidential Management Staff,” Herrera-Dy added.

According to Herrera-Dy, prior to the passage of RA 10149, all the GOCCs were under the control and supervision of the Office of the President.

She added the GOCCs are also answerable to Congress, the Commission on Audit, the National Economic and Development Authority, Government Procurement Board and Office of Government Corporate Counsel.

In April Herrera-Dy said the GCG counted 212 GOCCs and only two of these were listed as dissolved or abolished while 24 are “under abolition”, while there are 23 nonoperational/inactive GOCCs.

Only three are undergoing privatization which include GSIS Family Bank, Intercontinental Broadcasting Corp. and Southern Utility Management and Services Inc., the lawmaker added.

She said there are four GOCCs involved in mining.

If the GCG is to be consistent with the stance of Duterte against mining, she said these four GOCCs should be abolished: Batong Buhay Gold Mines Inc.; Natural Resources Development Corp.; North Davao Mining Corp.; and Philippine Mining Development Corp.

Herrera-Dy added there are also several GOCCs into food, agriculture and fisheries that should be privatized or merged, including Food Terminal Inc. (should be privatized); National Sugar Development Co. (merge with Philippine Sugar Corp.); Northern Foods Corp. (merge with Phividec); Phividec Panay Agro-Industrial Corp.; and Philippine Sugar Corp.

She said the government should get out of the realty business by abolishing or privatizing five realty holding companies, such as Batangas Land Company, First Cavite Industrial Estate Inc., G.Y. Real Estate Inc.,  kamayan Realty Corp. and Pinagkaisa Realty Corp.

“We have provided in HB 3014 that all officers and employees of the abolished GCG will be given two-and-a-half months’ salary for each year of service as separation pay,” Herrera-Dy added.

x x x

NEWS CONFIRMED

1. ang IBC-13 ay ibebenta ngayong buwan sa halagang 4billion pesos (minimum bid) ayon sa pahayag ni sec. martin andanar. ang mga lumalabas na may interes na bumili ay sina chavit singson+rmn group+smb group, ayala group, at isang negosyante taga davao city...

2. bukod pa dun ang IBC-13 ay mag uumpisa na mag broadcast ng digital ngayong buwan para mag test broadcast, alam naman natin na naka off ang kanilang analog at plano na nilang mga digital lalo na sa oras na maibenta na ito ngayong buwan.

rumors

3. ayon sa ilang source mag uumpisa na ng mag digital broadcast ang delta broadcasting system o DBS ni Bro Mike Z. Velarde ngayong buwan., sa tulong ng abscbn. kamakailan nag color bar test na sila gamit ang frequency na 599.143. nang umandar ang color bar test napansin natin na ang program 2,3,4 ay encrypted, isang posibilidad na magiging exclusive ito sa tvplus users at ang program 1,5,6 program naman ay para sa el shaddai at cbcp tv Maria channel. (eto lamang ay rumours pero ang delta broadcasting system ay totoong pag mamay ni Bro Mike Z. Velarde at nagbalita na sya sa kanyang mga taga sunod na magbubukas ngayong taon ang kanyang frequency o station.)"

MPIC mulls P20-B takeover bid for MRT-3

PANGILINAN-LED Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC) is considering increasing its proposed takeover bid to rehabilitate and operate Metro Rail Transit-3 to P20 billion from an earlier amount of P12 billion.

“The required amount of investment is larger,” MPIC President and Chief Executive Officer Jose Maria Lim told reporters on Friday, noting that their original proposed investment was only P12 billion.

The amount will be used for the rehabilitation of the whole train system without increasing the fare for at least two years, as well as to operate and maintain it.

Asked whether the new budget for the proposed takeover will reach P20 billion, Lim said, “Including the equity requirement, yes.”

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade announced in September that the department has granted original proponent status to MPIC for the rehabilitation, maintenance and operation of MRT-3 after the company presented its proposal to Tugade and Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd.

“NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority) will review the terms of our proposal… then it will be subject to a Swiss challenge,” Lim said.

Meanwhile, MRT-3 General Manager Rudy Garcia said that MRT-3 is currently forming a maintenance transition team, as it plans to terminate its contract with maintenance service provider Busan Universal Rail Inc. (BURI) for incompetence.

Transportation Undersecretary fr Rails Cesar Chavez had earlier blamed BURI for the series of technical glitches encountered by the train system and had threatened the Korean company that the their contract would be terminated.

“After the declaration that it is terminated, we will immediately procure the next maintenance provider,” Chavez earlier said in an aired interview.

“Based on our initial study, we need to procure the maintenance provider until 2025, to make  longer. It is necessary to make it clear to the public the technical and financial capabilities,” according to Chavez.

http://www.manilatimes.net/mpic-mulls-p20-b-takeover-bid-mrt-3/354032/

House OKs bill rationalizing creation of towns, cities, provinces

The House of Representatives has approved on the third and final reading a bill seeking to rationalize the creation of municipalities, highly-urbanized cities, and provinces.

House Bill 6177 aims to amend sections 442, 452, and 461 of Republic Act No. 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991.

The sections cover the requirements for establishing municipalities and provinces.

The creation of a municipality requires an average annual income of at least P12.5 million for the last two consecutive years, a population of at least 25,000, and adjoining territory of at least 50 kilometers.

The bill also grants Congress the power to declare a city a highly urbanized city within 30 days after it has met the prescribed requirements, which are:

1. a minimum population of 200,000;
2. an average yearly income of at least P250 million for the last two consecutive years.

It further provides that the declaration be ratified in a plebiscite to be conducted in the province in which the city belongs.

Meanwhile, a province may be created if it has a contiguous territory of at least 2,000 square kms, as certified by the Lands Management Bureau, or a population of not less than 250,000 as certified by the Philippine Statistics Authority. — Jessica Bartolome/MDM, GMA News