IT was indeed a busy week for Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) president and general manager Winston Garcia. There was, of course, the annual stockholders meeting of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) on Tuesday where the Lopez Group seemingly won Round 1 by retaining the management status quo chaired by Manuel Lopez.

The next day [Wednesday], Garcia celebrated his 50th birthday with a big sunset bash at the Esplanade that ended with shock-and-awe fireworks. The humongous events place—which is conveniently located near the GSIS head office—teemed with guests, with the more special ones like the president and her spouse being escorted to a special function room. Visibly seen were Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Loren Legarda and Rotarians such as Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. chairman Ephraim Genuino and Laguna Lake Development Authority chief executive office Eduardo Manda. Oh yes, members of the economic team, except Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, as well as corporate bigwigs such as San Miguel Corp. chairman and chief executive officer Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. also dropped by. No, there were no visibly Spanish-looking guys around.

The day after (Thursday), Garcia and his team as well as Meralco senior officers made a presentation before the country’s economic team at the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) head office. Host, DBP president Reynaldo David, shocked the staid group by applauding after the GSIS presentation—saying it was clear and to the point. Meralco’s point presentation was, well, considered more circuitous.

GSIS celebrated its 71st anniversary a day ahead (Friday) so more of the pension fund’s stakeholders (read: government executives, bankers, suppliers, among others) could attend.

Meanwhile, the Lopez Group was equally busy last week. For one, it successfully got a temporary restraining order against the one issued of the Securities and Exchange Commission chaired by Fe Barin to stop Meralco’s annual stockholders’ meeting. It has also been mustering its allies in the legislature and in media.

Interestingly, the point man is Manolo Lopez’s older brother and First Philippine Holdings Corp. chairman Oscar Lopez. The group’s strategy seems to focus on Meralco’s change in ownership structure shortly after the passage of Martial Law in 1972 and after the 1986 Edsa Revolution rather than on current issues such as the need for tighter and perhaps less-creative internal accounting to bring down power rates.

In a letter dated May 30, 2008, the patriarch of the Lopez family states the family’s bottom line. “…In almost 200 years in Philippine business, we remained true to our heritage of good governance, business excellence and social responsibility. We could have invested elsewhere but we have poured all our resources here because we love our country. Through partners, we have brought even more money into the country and with such funds, we have invested vigorously to benefit our countrymen.”

Needless to say, there’s a Part Two.

MOBILE-phone users may finally see rates go down. This, as the country’s telecommunications companies recently said they will carefully study proposals from the National Telecommunications Commission’s (NTC), which seek to limit access charges in short message service (SMS) to not more than P0.15 and put a cap of P1.50 per minute for cellular calls.

Worst beating yet for Meralco

TWO of the Lopez-controlled listed companies were among last week’s biggest losers. These were First Philippine Holdings Corp., an index stock and Benpres Holdings Corp.

New York-listed AES Philippines Corp. interested in participating in the bidding for the energy contracts of the National Power Corp. (Napocor) with independent power producers (IPPs).

PUERTO Princesa—Publicly listed Holcim Philippines Inc. is calibrating its industry growth projections for the year to only 6 percent to 8 percent due to uncertainties caused by the US sub-prime mess and resulting recession, as well as the continued increase in prices of construction materials. 

REAL-estate firm Eton Properties Philippines Inc. is looking at developing two more properties in Cebu and Batangas, while still undertaking the construction of 10 existing projects.

IT was indeed a busy week for Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) president and general manager Winston Garcia. There was, of course, the annual stockholders meeting of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) on Tuesday where the Lopez Group seemingly won Round 1 by retaining the management status quo chaired by Manuel Lopez.