A TOP official of the Aboitiz group in Cebu denied they have links with the group led by businessman Enrique Razon Jr. that is bidding for the National Transmission Corp. (Transco).

“We definitely have not been talking to anybody who is interested in Transco. We know what that law says—that distributors and generators cannot get into transmission,” the official who requested anonymity said.

Republic Act 9136, also known as the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), does not allow a company involved in electricity generation and distribution to have any interests in the transmission aspect.

Sen. Jamby Madrigal had claimed that the Aboitiz Group has been in secret contacts with Razon’s Group, Monte de Oro and its partner State Group Corp., one of several groups that prequalified for the bidding to acquire the transmission assets of Transco.

The senator said if the Monte de Oro group wins the bidding, the Aboitiz Group, which has large stakes in five distribution utilities all over the country and several power generation plants, could end up monopolizing the power sector.

Madrigal said the Aboitizes are linked to Razon through the marriage of Razon’s sister Liza to Stephen Paradies. Razon is also a director of the International Exchange Bank which was recently merged with the Aboitiz-owned Union Bank.

The Aboitiz official, however, said they have kept their hands off the Transco bidding.

“From the very beginning we have not set our eyes on Transco. We have not even studied it because we know we are not allowed,” the official said.

“The marriage [Liza and Stephen] had been there ever since.”

A statement from Aboitiz Power Corp. reiterated the company official’s statement.

“We are very aware of the restrictions by law prohibiting electricity distribution and generation companies like Aboitiz Power from any ownership in the transmission sector and we will abide by this restriction.”

“The present leadership of the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. should be commended for pursuing the privatization mandate by the government with vigor and resolve. Investors are finally convinced that targets set for the privatization of power assets will be met and have been bidding record prices for the assets sold. Bidders are also very satisfied that the bidding process has been fair and very transparent,” the statement added.

THE lawyer of wanted Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon turned the tables on the government on Sunday, saying that her client is being held by security forces and did not escape as claimed by the government.

THE United Nations (UN) reinvigorated its warning on the continued danger of an avian-influenza epidemic in individual nations and possible pandemic in the world in its joint report with the World Bank (WB) on the bird flu, although incidence has declined.

AN international group of activists from over 125 counties urged, in a report released last week, all governments to strengthen their political will toward the easing accessibility of drugs to treat HIV-AIDS, a disease that remains a threat to populations around the world.

THE BusinessMirror placed third in the Institutional Category for papers devoting editorial space to biotechnology issues, in the Third Jose G. Burgos Jr. Awards for Biotech Journalism at the Balai Kalinaw, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City

SORSOGON CITY—A newly elected barangay chairman and his two bodyguards, including a policeman, were gunned down on Saturday evening while attending a political gathering at a coastal village of this city that is known to be the “whale shark capital of the world.”

THE Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division told the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) to terminate the presentation of witnesses as it finally took cognizance of the protracted proceedings in the Lucio Tan case.

A TOP official of the Aboitiz group in Cebu denied they have links with the group led by businessman Enrique Razon Jr. that is bidding for the National Transmission Corp. (Transco).