Biz Buzz: Spanner in the works
AFTER several years of delays, the government is finally set to award the contract to manage, operate and maintain the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) to Manila North Tollways Corp.
It’s been a long process, with the Aquino administration having been unsatisfied with at least two (perhaps more) previous efforts of the Metro Pacific group to seal the deal with improved terms.
But after last week’s price challenge process conducted by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA)—where no other potential challenger showed up to contest MNTC’s proposal—it seems like the deal is finally in the bag.
But wait.
One group has apparently thrown a spanner in the works and is now questioning the decision of the government agency to award to operations contract for the 94-kilometer toll highway to MNTC.
According to our source at the BCDA, one of the two prospective challengers wrote the head agency’s Price Challenge Selection Committee (that would be lawyer Nena Radoc) just before the decision was made to award the project to MNTC.
In its protest letter, the law firm of Oscar Sollano—the Abaño Panfilo Paras Pineda & Agustin Law Offices—urged the BCDA to “settle the allegations of legal infirmities” on the price challenge on the offer of Metro Pacific’s tollways unit.
Note, of course, that the law firm is one of two parties who expressed interest in submitting a price challenge for the SCTEx deal, the other being San Miguel Corp. (the latter having declined to submit a bid after studying the contract).
According to Sollano, his firm had written BCDA three days earlier detailing the legal bases that would result in the nullification of the entire process.
In short, he said thus: “The mechanism of the price challenge and right-to-match, coupled with the factual circumstances prior to the publication of the invitation to bid, is not sanctioned by any law.”
Specifically, Sollano said that the root document, which was used as the basis for accepting MNTC’s so-called “most improved offer” for SCTEx, “is legally non-enforceable at this point and therefore cannot result to a right.”
The document he was referring to is the Business and Operating Agreement between BCDA and MNTC dated July 20, 2011, which, he claimed, was “deemed disapproved” by the Office of the President.
As such, the “contractual provision is now terminated on account of failure to meet a condition for contract effectivity.”
Of course, the BCDA—having waited long for this multibillion-peso project to move forward—had a ready reply in dismissing Sollano’s plea for a suspension of the proceedings.
It pointed out that potential opposites had only until Jan. 23 to submit written queries and concerns about the project and that Sollano’s questions came too late.
The BDCA also said that Sollano’s questions had already been addressed earlier through its published bid bulletins. “As regards your other concerns, the section committee is not in a position to respond to the same, except to reiterate the BCDA’s privatization process” founded on several laws, Radoc replied.
Then BCDA challenged Sollano: “We also enjoin you to disclose your client for purposive transparency.”
So this latest twist in the long-running SCTEx controversy bears watching. Will Metro Pacific finally bag the deal after years of negotiations and renegotiations? Or did Sollano just throw a spanner in the works? Daxim L. Lucas
Sun Life musical
RIZA Mantaring, the president of Sun Life Financial Philippines, used to be part of her high school’s glee club. And when the insurance group stages the musical “Legacy: The Sun Life Story” to commemorate the company’s 120th year of doing business in the Philippines, she will have a cameo role but swears that she won’t sing.
Her singing career, she implies, is, at best, as part of a chorale than as a soloist.
The musical, which will be staged for a month starting Feb. 27, will be top-billed by musical couple Robert Sena and Isay Alvarez. The play will be brought to the provinces as well.
Written by award-winning writer and director Floy Quintos, the musical will run at the Palacio de Maynila for the Metro Manila leg. As of press time, the 15 people comprising the cast, including Sun Life people like Mantaring who will have cameo roles, were about to start rehearsals.
The play—which targets employees, VIPs and clients – looks back on Sun Life’s legacy as an insurance pioneer in the country, one that has gone through two world wars and various local political upheavals. Doris C. Dumlao
Overhang? What overhang?
With the prospects of the gaming industry on the rise in the Philippines (even as they seem to be waning in neighboring countries), even the smaller gaming operators in the portfolio of the state-owned Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) are benefitting from the upside.
Yes, the large casino operations like Bloomberry’s Solaire Casino and Resort Hotel and Melco Crown’s new City of Dreams outfits are making (or will make) a killing, but the rising tide is also lifting PhilWeb Corp.’s boat, so to speak.
According to a company official who spoke to Biz Buzz recently, the Roberto Ongpin-owned firm actually contributed P2.1 billion in royalties to Pagcor last year. More importantly, the company expects to exceed that amount this year due to an expected increase in the number of clients at its E-Games gaming centers nationwide.
“For these contributions, Pagcor has no expenses or investments involved, all are paid by PhilWeb,” said the official. He was, of course, compelled to stress this point after a ranking Pagcor official pointed out to Biz Buzz that PhilWeb’s license from the state gaming agency would be up for renewal next year — a task which would almost certainly be left to the next administration.
“This means that PhilWeb is one of the largest contributors to Pagcor’s income,” the official said, adding for emphasis: “There is no reason for it not to continue the contract.”
Whence comes his confidence that PhilWeb can continue churning out such large royalties for the state? Well, it turns out that PhilWeb today has more than 300 e-games cafes all over the country. Most of these are operated by individuals who are well connected in their domestic political scene. Additionally, more than 70,000 customers daily patronize the e-games cafes.
“PhilWeb’s contract with Pagcor does not expire until July 11, 2016,” the official stressed. “This means that there would be a new board at Pagcor. Whoever the new board is, they cannot ignore the above realities.”
Well, maybe. In this country, who knows? — Daxim L. Lucas
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