Setting the record straight

SM magnate-heiress Tessie Sy vehemently denies allegations by columnist Conrado Banal of having held "secret" talks with GSIS chief Winston Garcia for the acquisition of the GSIS-owned shares in Equitable PCI Bank (EPCIB). Sy said she indeed had one meeting with Garcia but that was several months ago. The eldest daughter of taipan Henry Sy Sr. disclosed that she had been too busy traveling, attending to business outside the country and overseeing a lot of other projects for the SM Group that she has had no time for such "secret" meetings, nor the penchant to indulge in squabbles. While she doesn’t make a secret of planning to acquire more of Equitable PCI’s shares, Sy insists that these will be done with openness and transparency, and at prices that would be equitable for all the shareholders. These things will take time, with legal kinks still to be ironed out, the SM heiress stressed. Billion peso moves a death knell for small insurers The Insurance Commission (IC) under Commissioner Evangeline Escobillo is batting for the increase in the minimum net worth capital to P100 million for all insurers by January 2007. Should the increase push through, it would force the smaller players to either consolidate with other small companies or sell out to the bigger players. Escobillo said in a recent interview that the IC wants all the insurance companies to be financially sound to meet all claims of the insuring public and "prefers that the other players consolidate themselves if they cannot be at par." Meanwhile, with the recent release of Department of Finance Order 19-06, both non-life and life insurance industry players who are trying to salvage their insurance companies presently under conservation, receivership or liquidation, will need a minimum net worth of P1 billion paid in cash of which 50 percent consists of paid-up capital and the remaining portion as contributed surplus. Industry analysts surmise that the IC is literally rubbing salt on the wounds of the troubled players knowing fully well that they cannot meet the unrealistically high capital requirement and would be forced to finally shut down. Analysts also claim that the increase is a death knell for the active small players since it would be difficult to raise their capital base in less than half a year. Industry observers are speculating on who would most likely benefit from the IC’s billion peso moves.

Kotong blues

While many appreciate the efforts of MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando to bring order to the often chaotic streets of Metro Manila, it seems a number of his men are hell-bent to give his agency a bad rep. Spybiz informants reported that a number of these "blue boys" frequently congregate at the EDSA and Roxas U-turn areas, especially on Sundays, on the look-out for private vehicles that "change lanes abruptly" while jeeps and buses swerve left and right. What’s worse is that there are reportedly no signs to guide motorists. It looks like these men in blue – who are getting the unsavory tag as the "kotong blues" – have found a lucrative way to harass private motorists. A scare tactic allegedly used by these "kotong blues" is to confiscate the licenses of drivers, but since it is a Sunday, the office is closed so they will have to wait another day to claim it. Result? Some fork up to avoid the inconvenience.

Spybiz feedback: Hot about NAIA

A lot of Spybiz readers reacted (and a number quite strongly) about the column item "Hot and humid NAIA" (July 18 issue). One agrees that the situation is shameful and quite frustrating, especially for frequent travelers. The bad airconditioning system has been an irritant to frequent flyers for quite some time. P550 per person is not a small amount considering that there are millions of travelers, aside from earnings derived from advertising fees from sponsors of aircraft tubes and visual locations, said one. Another relates that last month, a band was enthusiastically playing certified Pinoy hits ("Pinoy Ako" of Pinoy Big Brother fame) but the people sweating it out at the immigration lines and the security queues could not really get to appreciate the musical talent of the band players. They were drenched with sweat and even the Pinoys were not in a celebratory or hortatory mood. One time, a frequent traveler managed to complain to a presidential in-law about the sorry situation at the airport, and the condition was fixed – but only temporarily. Even airports in Sri Lanka and Cambodia, which were completely archaic, have been reconstructed lately, and NAIA will pale in comparison, complained another. This is certainly not the way to show tourists the best of the Philippines.

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