The Republic vs Sense and the public good
booked on that Sunday night,” shared McGrath, who plans to capture both the corporate guests and th e tourism attraction in the last couple of years. It is a growing market. The staycation market will be a huge part of our business,” said McGrath.
McGrath is positive they can accommodate the growing leisure market looking for places to stay in during long weekends and holidays.
rooms and suites, with the smallest room covering 40 square meters and the largest, which is the two-bedroom Governor Suite, is about 160 square meters. Each room is designed with Hilton’s signature Serenity bed with a pillow menu, a sleek bathroom with separate bathtub and shower, a state-of-the-art smart TV, and free Wi-Fi access.
The hotel also features six meeting spaces, an expansive lagoon pool, complimentary shuttle service, a range of food and beverage outlets,
Hilton Manila is also part of Hilton Honors, the award-winning suspension had been approved, but then quailed in the face of Dominguez’ dissent to meekly suggest that, “maybe it’s better if we don’t suspend [the tax increase] after all.”
The squabble over the fuel tax is, sadly, yet another manifestation of the lack of rigor applied to the ways laws in this country are written. Although the suspension of the excise tax increase appears to be an automatic mechanism, and indeed should be, it actually only provides that the tax increase “may” be suspended —– a maddening bit of ambiguity that takes guardianship of the best interests of the country out of the hands of the law, and puts it into the care of a few individuals whose motivations are unclear at best.
Maynilad is at it again
Yesterday’s editorial in this paper shed some light on another issue that just can’t seem to die its well-deserved death, the cynical and avaricious insistence of water concessionaire Maynilad that is entitled to be functionally taxexempt and should be permitted to pass its corporate tax liabilities on to its customers.
Maynilad already won at least two rulings in favor of its incredible demand in connection with its rate hike application for the period covering 2013-2017, and is trying its luck again. It included corporate income tax recovery in its calculations for the 2018-2022 rate rebasing period, and again regulator Metropolitan Waterworks guest-loyalty program for Hilton’s 14 distinct hotel brands. Members who book directly have access to
payment slider that allows members to choose nearly any combination of points and money to book a stay, an exclusive member discount, free standard Wi-Fi, and the Hilton Honors mobile app.
A 38-year hospitality industry veteran, McGrath brings a diversity of experience to all facets of the business with a strong background in both operations and commercial aspects of the hotel. He started his career with Hilton nine years ago, as director of operations for Hilton Adelaide. He eventually moved on into a commercial role as director of business development. In 2012, he was appointed general manager of DoubleTree by Hilton Resort in Phuket Surin Beach, where he spearheaded the resort’s rebranding and repositioning prior to his posting in Malaysia. and Sewerage Services (MWSS) has bravely, but probably futilely rejected it. This sets up another appeal for arbitration by Maynilad to the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Singapore, which will almost certainly rule in the water company’s favor again.
A mechanism for third- party resolution of contractual disputes between governments and investors is a sensible concept on the surface, but has become so abused as to make it completely unreliable. The ICC is an opaque, business- friendly body — the details of its awards in arbitration
- tial — and is a poor choice of proxy for the Philippines’ legal and regulatory authority. It also does not help that this country’s lawmakers cannot seem to agree
- utility,” a small tion of “public
would prevent much of the current problem with Maynilad.
How this will all come out in the end is not exactly certain, but the prognosis is not good; the last case left the government on the hook for P3.44 billion in compensation to the already bloated coffers of Maynilad.
I’m not the only one who thinks Baguio is a dump
My column earlier this week about the sad state of the Philippines’ historic summer capital (“Like Boracay, like Baguio,” October 18) elicited an informative response from a recent visitor to the mountain city, Professor Ian Morley of the Department of History at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Morley’s specialty is urban planning history, and so to learn that he also found yet another of Daniel Burnham’s Philippine masterpieces gone to hell somewhat discouraging comes as no surprise.
Morley’s observations from
published earlier this month in the journal AsianGeographer, and neatly sums up Baguio in its conclusion: “As a city that was from the outset composed to give citizens opportunity to interact
urban growth during the second half of the twentieth century and early twenty- first century has, together with weak political administration, transformed the city from one of beauty to one of deep predicaments.”
For his part, Morley is not at uncertain as to who is to blame for the city’s deterioration, at least in the period since the tragic earthquake of 1990. He writes, “… the local government’s intention to construct multi-storey car parks within the public space [Burnham Park] have become interpreted by many of being yet another example of the municipality’s lack of thought for disaster risk management, sustainable development, and citizens’ wants and needs.
“Put succinctly,” he continues, “many in Baguio see the car park proposals as a metaphor of the political stagnation and environmen- Baguio since the 1990s, i.e. the age that has been dominated by politician Mauricio Domogan (city mayor 1992–2001, 2010-, and Baguio representative in the Philippine House of Representatives 2001–2010).”
Strong stuff, and something that is not likely to earn Professor Morley a red- carpet welcome from the city’s overlords anytime soon, but nonetheless a dead-accurate assessment and one that more people in Baguio than the good mayor and his party may realize would agree with, as I observed myself during a year of living in neighboring La Trinidad.
In spite of the enormous political obstacle in City Hall, however, there do seem to be some signs of hope, which Morley also highlighted in his paper. There is a lively environmental and historical preservation advocacy at work in the city and surrounding area, and some institutions like the University of Philippines and the Department of Tourism have made inroads towards preserving the city’s heritage without the involvement of the local government.
Much more work is needed, of course, beginning with a comprehensive change of perspective in the local leadership. But with some support from outside, change for the better may indeed come before it is too late.