THE Lopez Group has said as much about the insistence of substantial stockholder Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) for major changes in the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) to bring down the price of electricity in Metro Manila. And, interestingly, the government has said the same thing about the recent Supreme Court (SC) decision nullifying the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. (Piatco) contract for the botched construction of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s (Naia) Terminal 3.

The basic message here is that we will be scaring off foreign investors because rules are, well, changed midstream. 

As everybody knows, the Meralco annual stockholders’ meeting this week will be a battle of proxies, with the Lopez Group hoping to keep the ailing Manuel Lopez as chairman, former Asian Institute of Management president Felipe Alfonso as vice chairman and Jesus Francisco as president. GSIS president and general manager Winston Garcia wants, at the very least, Manolo Lopez’s head, and some sort of relief for power users.

As for the Naia-3 problem, the SC nullification absolves Piatco (and its partner, Germany-based Fraport) and puts the blame on the whole mess entirely on the government. This is seen to weaken the government’s arbitration cases filed in Singapore and the United States and may cost Filipino taxpayers $1 billion, if the foreign courts eventually rule in favor of Piatco and Fraport.

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DID you know 1: Vietnamese are displacing Filipinas as caregivers in Cyprus.  Here’s why.

There’s a requirement by the Department of Labor that the employer (read: someone normally old and sickly) must personally go to the embassy to sign a notarized document that he/she is indeed in need of a caregiver.

DID you know 2: Volvo Cars Inc. president Albert Arcilla is kind of pleasantly surprised that entry-level sports couple, the C30, has been selling way beyond target.

For one, there’s the competitive price of P1.6 million. For another, mostly male buyers don’t seem to have problems convincing the rest of the family on the purchase.

DID you know 3: Laguna Lake Development Authority head Ed Manda is sticking to his guns as far as selling water to Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) is concerned.

Basically, Manda wants the deal to be included in the terms of reference and not as an afterthought. This way, whichever company MWSS sells the Laguna Lake water to will not have to negotiate separately again with Manda.

DID you know 4: As president of Ayala Foundation Inc. (AFI), Victoria Garchitorena now spends most of her time in the United States. Her point man in the Philippines is executive director Guillermo Luz, who used to run the day-to-day activities of the Makati Business Club.

As AFI president, Garchitorena’s job is to raise money, and Filipino-Americans are a major source of such funds.

SMART Communications Inc. will soon offer new 3G (third-generation) services that involve more complex applications following the grant of additional frequencies to the cellular firm. Smart, to date, has cornered a total of 25 Megahertz (MHz) of frequency spectrum.

Clothing firm wages war vs Harvard

A LOCAL clothing manufacturer has asked the Court of Appeals (CA) to nullify the ruling of the Office of the Director General of the Intellectual Property Office (ODG-IPO) canceling its registration for the exclusive use of “Harvard” mark for clothing, footwear and headgear.

LIBERTY Telecom Holdings Inc. (LTHI) and its subsidiaries— Liberty Broadcasting Network Inc. (LBNI) and Skyphone Logistics Inc.—on Friday asked the Makati Regional Trial Court to erase from the court records the motion to terminate the ongoing rehabilitation proceedings and to allow its liquidation, saying the motion filed by Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) is a “mere scrap of paper” and its allegations are “baseless.”

LISTED Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) is spending P900 million this year to fund the expansion of its flour-milling and feed and swine production businesses.

MANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) may not have been the worst performer in the week ended May 23. But it was the big casualty among the main index stocks, having piled up a four-week loss of 21.47 percent on a government-takeover threat instigated by Winston Garcia, president and general manager of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

THE Lopez Group has said as much about the insistence of substantial stockholder Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) for major changes in the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) to bring down the price of electricity in Metro Manila.