Customs shoo-in

AMID the ongoing personnel changes at the Bureau of Customs, there’s one name which, if current talk is to be believed, is a virtual shoo-in for a ranking position at the controversial agency.

According to our sources, former civil defense official Ariel Nepomuceno is set to be appointed to the bureau as deputy commissioner for its intelligence group—a post formerly held by retired Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim.

BOC’s intelligence group head is, of course, responsible for sniffing out the modus operandi of the country’s biggest smugglers and, to a large degree, is key to the failure or success of the agency’s antismuggling campaign.

But hang on, isn’t former Armed Forces Chief of Staff Jessie Dellosa currently running the BOC’s intelligence group? Apparently, this is only in an acting capacity, according to our source, as the seat is now about to be given to Nepomuceno.

Apart from his stint at the Department of National Defense, Nepomuceno is supposed to enjoy the support of the influential Iglesia ni Cristo, as well as that of Sen. Chiz Escudero.

And since there’s a better than good chance that President Aquino will name Nepomuceno to the post, we hear that the Customs people are already busy sniffing out his style to better prepare for his arrival.

Of course, whether the new appointee will succeed in helping end billions of pesos worth of smuggling in the country remains to be seen.

Tower kinks

PLDT big boss Manny V. Pangilinan and company were supposed to move into Grade-A Alphaland Tower after this year’s “ghost month” but negotiations for the group to acquire the brand-new skyscraper has bogged down due to pricing issues. Our reliable sources noted that while there had been an initial agreement on the purchase, Alphaland’s $200-million (P8.4-billion) asking price for the tower proved too steep forMVP’s camp.

While theMVP group is still looking for a building, it is also considering—as recently floated—to build a Google-like campus, which will bring all companies under the group together in one sprawling hub in north or south of Metro Manila. The MVP group has an array of real estate assets that could be disposed to raise P5 billion.

So is the deal dead in the water? Talks have deteriorated but not entirely out of the equation as pricing can always be renegotiated, our sources claim. Nevertheless, it seems that Alphaland has started to look at other options. From what we gather, the preference is still to sell the building as a whole, which is why the group of businessman Roberto V. Ongin is not actively looking for tenants because this may constrain any future deal to sell the building lock, stock and barrel.

We heard that Philip Morris, for instance, is interested in the building but to lease only 10 floors of it. Another prospective buyer is Philamlife, which wants to have an iconic head office building either in the Makati or BGC central business district. Philamlife president Rex Mendoza said that if MVP’s group would pass on the Alphaland purchase, his company would be interested to step in as an alternative buyer.

Speaking of which ...

TROUBLE is brewing at another MVP-controlled enterprise, the Makati Medical Center. What kind of trouble? The personnel trouble kind, apparently.

According to a source, the problem unfolded after Dr. Henry Lu— a stockholder and the head of the Makati Medical Center Pain Management Clinic—organized a hospital-based event for cancer patients. It was an art therapy and auction of art works by the patients.

While organizing the event, however, Dr. Lu was supposedly given “a difficult time” by the hospital’s marketing staff, which threatened the success of the endeavor. Frustrated, the doctor blew his top while meeting with the marketing people and vented his ire on them.

Unknown to him, however, one staffer surreptitiously took a video of the outburst. Dr. Lu learned about it when he was called to the office of one hospital official, and was presented there, in front of the other officials, the video. (“He was also called rude during that meeting by one official because of the confrontation episode,” said our source.)

Makati Med’s management asked Dr. Lu to apologize for his behavior and for losing his temper during the episode and was reprimanded by the hospital’s medical services department.

Our source said Dr. Lu was willing to apologize for losing his temper, but was questioning the act of videotaping him without his permission. So is all this legal? An official of the MVP group declined to comment because the case is now with the courts after Dr. Lu filed a complaint against management. Let’s see what happens.

Golden dream

SPEAKING of MVP, last week’s NBA preseason games at SM Arena, which were held in the Philippines for the first time, has given the businessman a chance to briefly meet with NBA commissioner David Stern. They discussed how to work together on a grassroots development. Among the possibilities raised were: Coach and referee training programs and Gilas training with D-League teams/selection. It turns out that Stern shares every Filipino sports patron’s dream of having a Filipino player in the NBA.

Likewise discussed was MVP’s continuing interest to invest in an NBA team, even just to have a modest stake initially. Stern saidMVP’s group would be welcome but also noted that prices have gone up, said a source privy to themeetings.

As earlier reported, MVP’s new target NBA team is Oakland, California-based Golden State Warriors, Harvard boy Jeremy Lin’s first professional basketball club but that was long before his “Linsanity” days with the New York Knicks and current place with the Houston Rockets.

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