FRIENDS chat animatedly on a rooftop in barangay Sto. Niño in Parañaque City, framed by seemingly endless electric wires and meters of Meralco. The largest electricity distributor is fending off accusations that it is routinely overcharging customers. --NONIE REYES

FIVE foreign companies are interested in joining the Lopez-owned First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPHC) in a planned consortium that would acquire the 29-percent stake of the government in the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).

But whether or not the government stake is still up for sale remains to be a question, especially with the ongoing squabble between the Lopez family and Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) general manager Winston Garcia.

THE chief of the Senate’s economic affairs panel wants to convert into shares of stocks the billions of pesos in refunds owed to some 4 million customers in the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) expanded franchise area.

Sen. Loren Legarda laid down the proposal Monday, saying it could possibly end the raging rift among rival blocs of Meralco shareholders. She added that the stock- conversion plan, if adopted, would not just refund customers what Meralco owes them but also empower end-users of electricity as co-owners of the Lopez family-controlled utility firm.

THE government can well afford to finance the cost of subsidizing the poor hit the hardest by rampaging oil-related price increases.

But, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said Monday, they can only plow back up to P20 billion worth of excess collections from the value added tax (VAT) on oil under a proposed cash-transfer mechanism, if the legislators do not take away the cash hoard from their hands first.

AS many expected, high food and commodity prices were the biggest factors that had dragged down economic growth in the first quarter.

The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), although still to release its official gross domestic product (GDP) estimates at the end of the week, already expects about only 6-percent GDP in the first quarter.

LAHORE, Pakistan—Pakistan welcomes the presence of skilled and professional Filipino workers in this South Asian country because it is “weak” in producing a middle-level work force with “sophistication,” a Pakistani official said.

“People from the Philippines can come....Pakistani people are generally hard-working. The issue is in the level of sophistication. Today, the economy requires very sophisticated men. People who can use technology. People who can do quality [work]...Filipinos working here will give Pakistanis the incentive to work harder. And it is a welcome sign,” Punjab governor retired Lt. Gen. Khalid Maqbool told six visiting journalists invited by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute.

FOR failing to act in the last 18 months on the European Commission proposal for a bilateral deal qualifying it to the comprehensive free-trade agreement (FTAs) between the European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), the Philippines faces the risk of being excluded from the FTA. That exclusion, in turn, could hurt its chances of accessing the 27-nation EU markets.

Ambassador Alistair Macdonald, head of delegation of the European Commission in the Philippines, said that in contrast, the Philippines’ neighbors—Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam—are now in the final stages of negotiations for their respective partnership-cooperation agreements (PCAs). The Philippines is hosting next month the 5th Joint Committee Meeting for the EU-Asean proposed FTA that seeks to facilitate trade and investments between the world’s two largest and most influential regional blocs, with a combined population of close to one billion.

THE Aboitiz clan, an iconic player in the power sector that has been lately dragged into speculations of a government-driven takeover of top distribution utility Manila Electric Co., was in the news again Monday, but on account of a personal tragedy.

ARE rice traders objecting to the raids and inspections of the National Food Authority (NFA) because they have no warrant?

The Department of Justice said their objections are on a very shaky ground. In its legal opinion, it affirmed the authority of the NFA to inspect warehouses and order the seizure and public sale of hoarded rice even without a warrant issued by the court.

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Total loss An unidentified man appears stunned by the extent of destruction as he inspects his house that was totally ravaged by Typhoon Cosme in sitio Las Vegas, barangay Bonuan Gueset, Dagupan City. Pangasinan, parts of Mountain Province and Central Luzon were among the hardest hit by the storm.  --JIM MANAOIS