Big trouble

Lopez-owned SkyCable and Home Cable are in big trouble.

It seems that they promised their respective creditors that as part of their proposed debt restructuring program, their business plan to revive the viability of the businesses would include merging with Destiny Cable and thereby creating a monopoly in the cable TV industry in the country .

The creditors, to which the two cable companies owe more than a billion pesos, also want the parent companies to put in new money into the business.

But PLDT president Manny Pangilinan, whose company owns Home Cable, is not also sold to the idea of asking for new money from the Salim group to jumpstart the cable business. To Manny, it is too small a favor to ask to exhaust his goodwill with the family, which controls First Pacific – controlling shareholder of PLDT.

For his part, Sky Cable president Gabby Lopez reportedly has found a foreign group that is willing to invest in the cable business. But because the Constitution requires 100-percent Filipino ownership of broadcast which includes cable, the Lopez group will have to find a way to make the new money appear like a loan that can be converted into equity later on.

The creditors are losing patience. SkyCable and Home Cable have not paid interest on their loans. And without a debt restructuring program and a viable business plan in place, they have no hope of ever getting paid.

Check Mate

Was there bad faith on the part of Star Group (distributor to the Philippines of ESPN, Star Sports, Star Movies, Star World) when it pulled the plug on Destiny Cable exactly a year ago yesterday?

Destiny has just merged with a bit player in the local cable TV industry, Global Cable. With Global having an existing contract with the Star Group, will it suffer the same fate as Destiny and lose these major foreign programs?

Global Cable, by the way, is looking at offering prepaid cable viewing cards. Sounds interesting.

Who’s Fault Was It?

So much has been said about the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) failure to process claims and loan applications of its members due to financial distress.

But is it entirely GSIS‚ fault?

It appears that as a result of the agencies’ computerization program that consolidated the databases of its decentralized field offices as well as the central office, the GSIS discovered that premium contribution arrearages from government agencies accumulated to a staggering P40 billion.

In his letter to the President, GSIS president and general manager Winston Garcia noted that government agencies have either underremitted or entirely failed to remit the required premium contributions, resulted in huge arrearages and interest charges.

The non-payment of premium contributions has in turn adversely affected the members because those periods during which no contributions were received are now excluded from the computation of the creditable years of service. Likewise, only salaries with premium payments are considered in determining the average monthly compensation used in the processing of claims and loan applications.

Aside from the huge contribution arrearages, the GSIS also found out that there are more than P15 billion in defaulting member-loans. It appears that the acceptance of certification of payments as proofs of loan repayments gave the members the opportunity to continuously avail of loan privileges despite unpaid loans. In some instances, government agencies delayed or totally did not remit loan amortizations already deducted from the members‚ salaries.

Garcia, however, stressed to the President that the GSIS remains viable. As of Sept. 29 this year, cash in bank of GSIS amounted to P16.4 billion while investments readily convertible into cash reached P53.4 billion, for a total of P69.8 billion.

He maintains that the GSIS is taking decisive steps that may seem unpopular and drastic from the point of view of the members, but will solve the problem of enormous uncollected receivables. These include adoption of a premium-based policy that directly linked social security benefits with premium contributions, implementation of a claims and loans interdependency policy to enhance collection efficiency, aggressive reconciliation of premium and member-loan accounts with government agencies, among others.

Finance Secretary Lito Camacho and Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin have been threatening to have Garcia investigated by Congress. The investigation might as well include Garcia’s claim that government agencies are to blame in order to resolve this issue once and for all.

Woman Power

Young, bright, unafraid, and ambitious. No doubt, the secret ingredients of success and staying power in Philippine politics.

Senate majority Floor Leader Loren Legarda, still very young in her early 40s, indeed has a brighter future ahead of her.

She has achieved what others can only dream of. She trained hard and prepared well. A bright student at the University of the Philippines where she graduated with honors, her 20-year broadcast journalism was not even enough for her. She went to the National Defense College of the Philippines to further her studies and broaden her horizons so to speak.

As a senator for five years now, her voting record is one not swayed by vested and partisan interests. But the defining moment of her public life took place last Oct. 2 when she declared that she was out of the ruling Lakas party to be a political independent. Her words flowed with nobility and grace, with not a bitter, accusing line which is usually the stuff political speeches are made of. Whether it was of her own choice or upon the advice of some else, her donning blue jeans and white shirt and without trace of make-up completed the picture. Like her look, her words that spoke of principles and greater good were refreshing and inspiring in the midst of extreme political partisanship.

That event dramatized Loren’s political maturity. She successfully showed to everyone that she was ready for what the future held for her.

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