Malaysians return to NSC evaluation body

Things seem to be looking up for National Steel Corp. (NSC) as its Malaysian owners are reportedly going back to the Evaluation Committee handling the planned leasehold of the steel plant’s facilities.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Lilia Bautista said Danaharta, the Malaysian assignee of the 82 percent NSC stake held by Hottick Investments Ltd., has a forthcoming letter to the NSC Evaluation Committee indicating its willingness to return to the fold.

Hottick has backed out of the Evaluation Committee – made up of the steel firm’s stakeholders, creditors and liquidator – that would review bids for the lease of NSC’s Iligan plant, opting instead to endorse and support the separate proposal of Allengoal Steel Corp.

Bautista said Danaharta made the commitment to President Arroyo and Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II, the chairman of the NSC Evaluation Committee, after the latter indicated it would still be open to other proposals aside from the offer put up by Austria’s Voecht Alpine, the lone bidder during the Sept. 21 deadline set by the committee for accepting lease proposals.

The SEC official said the committee can still accept other bids, particularly from the original lease proponent Allengoal and Cathay Pacific Steel Corp. since it has not yet opened Voecht Alpine’s bid.

Before the Sept. 21 deadline, Allengoal, which is supposed to participate in the bidding, has instead made a separate and amended proposal to the SEC emphasizing that its offer is "the most practical, cost-effective and most advantageous to NSC over the near term."

Aside from Hottick, the Allengoal lease proposal was also backed up by the National Steel Labor Union – FFW whose representatives personally went to the SEC last Friday to file a formal motion for the SEC to approve Allengoal’s contract.

Union president Simplicio Villarta said the government should immediately work on the re-opening of NSC – which closed down due to its debt and liquidity problems in Nov. 1999 – to prevent the exponental rate of deterioration of the plant.

He also cited the plant’s re-opening would address the sad plight of the displaced workers and the economic vacuum of its host city. At its peak, NSC employed about 4,000 employees and contributed a third of Iligan City’s domestic output. – Conrado Diaz Jr.