SCRI looks at 'protein' farming

South China Resources Inc. (SCRI), the holding firm of the Puyat Reyes group and which is currently awash with cash with the sale of the latter’s Bell Telecommunications (BellTel) to San Miguel Corp.’s Liberty Telecoms as well as its stake in Premiere Bank to Security Bank, is looking at new investment areas, including one that sounds very interesting… protein farming.

SCRI sources explained that protein farming not only involves producing milk from dairy cows, but other sources of protein, including those from rootcrops.

The Puyat Reyes group is not new to agriculture, having been into flour milling in the past.

But aside from protein farming, SCRI is currently busy beefing up its property business via its subsidiary SOC Land.

At the sidelines of the recent SCRI’s stockholders’ meeting, SCRI chairman Edgardo Puyat Reyes said he believes that the real estate property sector will continue to be robust due to the country’s brisk economic performance, Filipinos’ rising incomes characterized by a resurgent and growing middle class, and strong demand from OFWs and expatriates.

SCRI was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 1992 primarily to undertake oil and gas exploration, development and production. In 2003, it changed its primary purpose of business to that of a holding company, with oil and gas exploration being reclassified among its secondary purposes. 

In November last year, as part of its diversification strategy, SCRI forayed into property development and established SOC Land as a wholly owned property subsidiary. SOC Land’s maiden project, Anuva Residences is a P2-billion mid-rise residential building complex to be located along the east service road of SLEX, and on the 2.4-hectare property previously owned by SCRI and transferred to SOC Land last year.

But what is this we’ve heard from the grapevine that aside from oil exploration, another area of business that SCRI is looking into is mining? Unlike oil and gas, the chance of hitting it big in mining is bigger after all.

Credible news source

Filipinos have made their preference known when it comes to their source for news on TV. The most recent opinion polls show it’s ABS-CBN’s “TV Patrol,” anchored by the news triumvirate of Noli De Castro, Ted Failon, and Korina Sanchez that most Filipinos find most credible and tune in to, which is consistent with previous opinion polls.

While some people were hitting the decision of the Kapamilya network to bring back former VP de Castro and Sanchez for their political background and association, the Filpino public didn’t seem to mind if de Castro used to be with the Arroyo government or if Sanchez is married to a politician.

In a recent StratPOLLS survey, “TV Patrol” emerged as the “most credible news reader team on television in the National Capital Region” with 45.6 percent of the respondents choosing the anchor line-up of ABS-CBN, while only 41.2 percent said they preferred the anchors of GMA7’s “24 Oras.” De Castro, Failon, and Sanchez also dominated the Top 5 among those voted as “top news anchor” by the respondents, with “Kabayan” topping the list with a rating of 86.8 percent.

The strong performance of ABS-CBN news doesn’t come as a surprise as the Kapamilya network ruled a nationwide opinion poll in 2010 by Pulse Asia, where 63 percent picked ABS-CBN as most credible TV network in covering last year’s elections, while only 55 percent chose GMA.

These findings are reinforced by the stellar ratings performance of the newscast based on data from Kantar Media.

“TV Patrol” remains to be the country’s most watched TV newscast with 25.1-percent national TV rating, higher than GMA’s “24 Oras” that only rated 16.6 percent.

While “TV Patrol” continues to reign supreme on across the country, it has also started to gain more viewers in Metro Manila and Mega Manila, the supposed bailiwicks of its rival “24 Oras.”

“TV Patrol” started whipping “24 Oras” in Metro Manila last May 18 and even peaked with 26.1 percent versus 19.7 percent on May 27. The trend continues this June with “TV Patrol” winning to date from June 1-3 and June 6-9.

Viewers are also switching to “TV Patrol” in Mega Manila. In fact, “TV Patrol” won last May 20 (25.4 vs 17.9), May 26 (22 vs 20.9), May 27 (23.6 vs 22), June 3 (21.6 vs 19.2) and June 6 (20.1 vs 19.7).

And it was ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs that delivered the most recent major scoop after it broke the news on former Batangas Governor Jose Antonio Leviste’s illegal trips outside the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City with the “XXX” team capturing them on video.

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