AMID opposition raised by legislators on the privatization of the country’s power lines business, the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) remains confident the bidding for the 25-year concession contract for the National Transmission Corp. (Transco) will push through as scheduled on December 12.

“Unless PSALM receives an order from the court, we will push through with the Transco bidding,” said Psalm president Jose C. Ibazeta, who reserved his comment on the case filed by disqualified bidder La Costa Development Corp. seeking to stop the Transco bidding.

The Psalm official said that at this point, it is all up to the courts, adding that he has strong faith in the country’s judicial system and in PSALM’s prequalification procedure.

Commenting on news reports that quoted him as saying that La Costa could still take part in the Transco bidding if the consortium could comply with certain requirements, Ibazeta noted that the PSALM board has already made a ruling that could no longer consider La Costa’s prequalification requirements.

“The prequalification period has long been over,” Ibazeta pointed out.  He added that the board has prequalified four bidders. “What would bidders and the financial community say if we change the rules in midstream to accommodate one more bidder?” he asked.

They, according to Ibazeta, for sure will wonder if Psalm is serious about its bidding procedures, particularly now when it is already the fourth attempt to privatize Transco.

“I doubt if the investors will come back if this round does not push through,” he said.

Ibazeta reiterated that he welcomes any investigation of the PSALM bidding process even as he wondered “why people are trying to stop a good thing.”

Psalm chairman and Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves pointed out that Transco will have to be repeatedly explained, reiterating that the government is not selling the rights of Transco, but just its concession agreement.

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—At a forum with members of Filipino and Taiwanese business councils at the Formosa Hall of Subic Bay Gateway Park (SBGP), Dr. Raymond Ricardo, president and chief executive officer of TotalMED, said the medical-tourism market in Subic and Clark, has “huge potential.”

A BIODIESEL firm in Madrid, Spain, is planning to invest $200 million in the Philippines to develop at least 100,000 hectares of land into jatropha plantations, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.

LOCAL property developers and other stakeholders in the retirement industry should start getting their acts together and sell the Philippines as one and not just their individual projects for the country to get a bigger pie of the global retirement market.

THOUGH the government has yet to finalize its plans on how to divest off its shares at the state-run explorations company, Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves told reporters that the bidding for the government’s remaining stake in Philippine National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC) will be undertaken next year.

AMID opposition raised by legislators on the privatization of the country’s power lines business, the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) remains confident the bidding for the 25-year concession contract for the National Transmission Corp. (Transco) will push through as scheduled on December 12.

RESTRICTIVE provisions in the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) law should be amended if the farm sector is to become a top contributor to the country’s economy, Manny V. Pangilinan, chairman of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), said.