Will the Resa law affect the brokers only?… Think again!

After my article in this column and my other article in another paper, after discussions in several forums and conferences, after meeting with several heads of sales organizations of different developers, sales agents have now realized that this so-called RESA law is no longer a joke. For the longest time, people thought that selling real [...]

Ayala moves into Boomtown

Indeed, it is such a delight to receive news that listed real-estate company Ayala Land Inc., one of the country’s biggest real-estate developers, is now targetting Subic Bay for expansion. The company, a news report indicates, proposes to build a P3-billion mixed-use development in the former Subic US naval base reportedly as part of its [...]

Rape of the Superhighway

The supposed “rationalization” currently being proposed by the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) on the rules that would govern the placement, installation and location of outdoor advertising, more popularly known as billboards, along the 92-kilometer stretch of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) is a fitting prelude to the greatest crime against nature that could ever happen [...]

Will the RESA law affect the brokers only? Think again…

Property buyers will be happy to know that our government has been taking serious steps to provide protection for them, and thus encouraging them to invest more in Philippine real estate. There is already the Presidential decree 957 (Subdivision and Condominium Buyers Protection decree) and the Republic Act 6552 (more popularly known as the Maceda law, which is about Protection of Buyers of Real Estate on Installment Payment).

Enrile’s power bills

One way Congress can help ailing industries in the provinces, particularly in an economic downturn, is by helping lower their production cost through cheaper electricity. And this is precisely what Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile had in mind in filing Senate Bill 3147 or the Uniform Franchise Tax Act, and Senate Bill 3148 or the Electricity Rate Reduction Act.

What’s next for Mariano Tanenglian?

Business circles are now rife with speculative talk about the cause and true nature of the feud between wealthy Chinese-Filipino businessman Lucio Tan and one of his brothers, Mariano Chua Tanenglian. And one cannot help but wonder if this feud is actually the beginning of the end of the Tan family’s mighty business empire.

To and from Cojuangco town

In terms of business focus, it seems amiss for Cojuangco-chaired San Miguel Corp. (SMC) to be interested in a sizable stake in the proposed 88-km toll road that will extend the North Luzon Expressway from Mabalacat, Pampanga, all the way to La Union, coursing through the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway. But then, other than the potential revenues from the project, on the political front, it also makes sense for SMC chairman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. to favor the tollway investment. After all, it improves access to and from his own bailiwick of Tarlac, and is expected to also pass his son Mark’s legislative district in Pangasinan.

The monster killer called IFRIC 15

For the past few months, a lot of developers who knew about IFRIC 15, a new accounting reporting system scheduled to be implemented on January 1, 2009, with a retroactive application, were really worried. I was also very surprised to learn that very few developers have even heard of this issue.

The Clark Airport–the only hope

Whenever I travel internationally, I decide to closely observe the airports of those countries in comparison with the Manila International Airport. When I fly in an international airline, I got to depart from Terminal 1. The experience was humbling and I am certain that any Filipino who has flown in some countries would agree with me that the Philippine Terminal 1, which all international carriers use, is a shame to the country. This is the only terminal I have seen to have a reused plastic container serving as the rainwater control device in the middle of the departure lounge covered by dirty and stained carpet. The dirt and the disrepair for an international passenger terminal is unacceptable.

Busy bodies

Build and they will come.
From merely nothing flying out of the Clark international airport after the cataclysmic eruptions of Mount Pinatubo in 1991, the succeeding secondary explosions that emitted fine volcanic ashes and the dreaded lahar flows—the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport has metamorphosed into one of the busiest airports in the Asian region. Back then, we only had migratory birds visiting the two 3.2-km parallel runways, a contrast when the US military might is felt by the presence of the F4 phantoms lined up in front of the DMIA tower.

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