Biz Buzz: Villars in 2019

The “brown” taipan Manny Villar has hinted about it two years ago, but now, it seems that the die is cast. During the upcoming 2019 midterm elections, daughter

Camille Villar will likely join the congressional race to represent the Villars’ bailiwick city of Las Piñas.

“Matagal na ready yan (She’s been ready for so long),” Villar said. “Di naman siya nagpe- prepare (She’s not really preparing) but I’m just saying she’s a natural.”

Villar graced the secondquarter financial results briefing of Vista Land and Lifescapes on Monday, the same day that a “super-coalition” was formed by presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte with several other parties, including Villar-led Nacionalista Party (NP).

Of all his children, Villar said Camille was the most exposed to politics, even more than Mark

Villar, who was the Las Piñas congressman before he joined the Duterte Cabinet and took on the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) portfolio. This was because Camille had stayed with the parents the longest time, while the two other sons, Paolo (Vista Land president) and Mark had studied abroad for some time.

This is why Camille—who had likewise dabbled in show biz (as TV host)—is very good in the retail business, Villar said.

But now that there’s need to fill up the Las Piñas seat, which has been left vacant since Mark joined the DPWH, Camille is stepping up to the plate.

For his part, Villar said he himself was not going back to politics anymore. During the midterm elections, however, NP will have at least three senatorial candidates, including wife Cyn

thia Villar who will seek reelection. The two other senatorial bets of NP are Imee Marcos and Pia Cayetano.

Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos won’t run for the Senate, Villar said, as that would mean giving up his vice presidential electoral protest. —DORIS DUMLAOABADILLA

‘Wake Up’

Now that Manny Villar is more focused on business than politics, he has a new retailing project in the pipeline, one that will accelerate his coffee shop business.

He has Coffee Project, of course, which now has 30 stores in just about twoyears but the tycoon said it was not expanding fast enough.

Villar said he would soon launch a new coffee shop chain under a new brand “Wake Up,” which will cater to the less affluent consumer market. The chain will serve a strong coffee brew—hence the brand—but it will sell at a lower price and the coffee shops will be less ornate than the Coffee Project stores, which are designed to be “Instagrammable.” Capital spending on each store will likely be half of the cost to put up each Coffee Project.

In the provinces, he said (maybe in jest) that he would put up “Wake Up” near the group’s “All Day” convenience stores, to read “Wake Up All Day.”

Upon launch, Wake Up will immediately have 12 sites to open, likewise capitalizing on the group’s presence in more than 140 cities and municipalities nationwide.

Asked whether he would open this new brand for franchising, Villar said it was a possibility but noted that the first 100 would be company-owned.

On the third telco player, his son Paolo Villar said that he had had discussions with potential foreign technical partners for a potential bid for the third telco slot. But whether or not the group gets the much-coveted slot, plans are underway to provide broadband services to its “communi-cities.” —DORIS DUMLAOABADILLA

Panglao rising

The debate continues to rage among policymakers and private sector proponents over which area to develop as the country’s main international aviation gateway.

Each proposal—San Miguel’s Bulacan airport, the Cavite local government’s Sangley Point airport plan, the proposed expansion of the Clark International Airport, or the improvement of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport—has its merits (some more than others).

But amid all this, there is some good news for delay—and congestion-weary local travellers, especially those planning to go on holiday over the next few months.

Biz Buzz learned that the new airport in Bohol—dubbed the Panglao Island International Airport—will finally be inaugurated next month, six years after being approved by the National Economic and Development Authority.

Unsurprisingly, the project initially proceeded at a snail’s pace, but the bulk of the work was completed over the last two months under the stewardship of Transportation Secretary Art Tu

gade —not an easy task to achieve given that the secretary was busy fending off an unending stream of complaints from increasingly impatient citizens over other transportation issues like the Metro Rail Transit.

Witha land area of more than 200 hectares, the new Panglao airport will initially have a 2.5kilometer runway, which will make it a safer facility for airliners to operate from compared to the old Tagbilaran City airport whose runway only has a length of 1.7 kilometers. Jets full of tourists landing at Tagbilaran have to screech to a jolting stop once, or have to use up almost the entire runway when taking off, leaving very little margin of error for pilots.

Not so with the longer runway of Panglao where tourists’ vacations are expected to begin and end with more relaxing airplane takeoffs and landings.

And soon after this new airport is inaugurated, it will also have the ability for night operations, giving airlines greater scheduling flexibility.

More importantly, we learned that, even before it will be opened next month, Panglao’s runway is already scheduled for an extension by 300 meters, giving it true international capability. A longer runway means it can accommodate larger, wide-bodied aircraft to bring in tourists to one of the best beach destinations in the country.

And what will happen to the old Tagbilaran airport? There are initial plans to either turn the facility into a local general aviation hub for private planes or even redevelop the area into a commercial district. To do the latter, however, the government will have to deal with the Gallares family of Bohol, which, we’re told, donated the property to the government many decades ago for the airport... on condition that the land will revert to the family if the government ever vacates it. Now that will be a significant windfall for one of the oldest political families of the island. —DAXIM L. LUCAS

A-listers

In a country where lawyers are dime a dozen, separating the wheat from the chaff can sometimes be a daunting task.

Thankfully, there are people and organizations out there who take it upon themselves to come up with handy lists that highlight the best of the best in the Philippines’ perpetually booming legal scene.

We’re talking about the Asia Business Law Journal’s annual list of the Philippines’ top 100 lawyers.

This “A-List” is based on extensive research conducted by the publication, which “turned to thousands of in-house counsel in the Philippines and around the world, as well as Philippines-focused partners at international law firms, and asked them to nominate private-practice lawyers (excluding senior counsel) for this list of the Philippines’ top 100 lawyers.”

“Nominations were made by professionals at a wide range of Filipino and global companies and law firms, including: ABB, AXA Philippines, Ayala Land, CCL Label Industries, Conergy Philippines, DSDC Software Development Centre, Halder & Associates, Ligman Lighting, San Miguel, Siam City Law Offices and Sidley Austin,” the publication said.

The final list reflects the nominations received, combined with the Asia Business Law Journal editorial team’s more than 30 years of collective experience in documenting and analyzing the Philippines’ legal market. All Filipino private practice lawyers were automatically eligible for inclusion in the nominations process, and as always there were no fees or any other requirements for entry.

Naturally, the list contains all the names one would expect to be there. We’re talking about the likes of Accralaw’s Francis Lim, who specializes in alternative dispute resolution, antitrust and trade regulation, appellate practice, bankruptcy and insolvency.

You’ll also find there the names of AccraLaw’s Avelino

Cruz and Victor Lazatin; Nilo

Divina of Divina Law; Ricardo Romulo and Perry Pe of Romulo Mabanta; Emmanuel Lombos of SyCipLaw, and Simeon Marcelo of Cruz Marcelo and Tenefrancia (as well as the notable lawyers of “The Firm” Villaraza & Angangco).

One can find the complete list on vantageasia.com, which—unfortunately... or fortunately—is arranged alphabetically and not ranked by skill or the lawyers’ hourly rates. Otherwise, we’ll never hear the end of it. —DAXIM L. LUCAS i