TALENT MAGNET
The fastest growing audit firm in the country scored another win recently that would surely boost its standing in the highly competitive industry.
Word on the street is that Reyes Tacandong & Co. — set up only in 2010 by 22 partners who broke off from SGV & Co. — scored a coup of sorts when they were able to sign up the top talent from the most recent batch of accounting graduates.
We’re talking about Justine
Louie Santiago, the topnotcher — as in, first — in the October 2019 board licensure examinations for certified public accountants, who joined the firm this week.
The freshly minted accountant and auditor is also a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Santo Tomas.
Reyes Tacandong is the “fastest growing” audit firm because it managed to grow its staff base to more than 800 in less than a decade — not an easy feat, especially when compared with the Philippines’ biggest audit and consultancy firm, SGV & Co., which took 15 years to reach the same number of employees, mainly through merging with and acquiring smaller companies.
Reyes Tacandong is led by former SGV stalwarts Roman Felipe “Manny” Reyes as chair and Protacio Tacandong as COO, with accountants who graduated from their courses with Latin honors or are topnotchers in their professional exams.
From its offices in Citibank Tower in Makati City, the company serves the accounting and audit needs of top tier clients like San Miguel Pure Foods, the Max’s group, Mcdonald’s and the Roxas group, among others.
Expect it to grow some more in the coming years, enough to challenge the industry’s leaders. —DAXIM L. LUCAS
Templeton Freedom awardee
Non-profit Foundation for Economic Freedom (Fef)—run by group of economists who use their collective brains and voice to advance the cause of economic and political liberty, good governance, secure and well-defined property rights, market-oriented reforms and consumer protection—bagged Atlas Network’s 2019 Templeton Freedom Award for its work to end restrictions on agricultural land patents.
FEF was credited for liberating billions of dollars in land values and potentially transforming the country’s entire agricultural sector. More than just the bragging rights, the Templeton Freedom award carried a cash prize of $100,000, which was presented at Atlas Network’s gala Freedom Dinner on Nov. 7.
“The FEF earned this recognition for years of work toward this recent breakthrough that restored full property rights for 2.5 million people who had been deprived of them in the Philippines,” said Brad Lips, CEO of Atlas Network, who presented the award. “FEF has shown that, if you care about economic opportunity for all people, clarifying property rights needs to be a top priority.”
FEF’S efforts resulted in a new law having been passed in the Philippines in February 2019 that removed antiquated legal constraints and opened up a free market for patent holders to use their land as a source of capital.
FEF’S research and advocacy was instrumental in helping legislators draft the bill, build a coalition of supporters and network with stakeholders to pass the new law, which was championed by legislators such as Joey Sarte Salceda.
The problems associated with agricultural land patents had deep roots in the country’s transition to independence in the 1930s. Under the Public Land Use Act enacted in 1936, an agricultural free patent was issued to those who have “continuously occupied and cultivated” tracts of agricultural public land. However, patent holders were prohibited from mortgaging or selling their land within five years from the issuance of the patent.
In order to circumvent this problem, patent holders engaged in underground market transactions, which increased the risk of default and contributed to the lack of property investment in the countryside as rural banks, were reluctant to lend to farmers with patents because the risk of foreclosure and low marketability of the patent after being foreclosed was a significant barrier. Another
problem was that land transactions were not closed for five years, meaning the original landowners had the option to buy back the property within that time. As a result, this constricted rural land market became a major cause of agricultural underdevelopment and poverty in the Philippines.
A 2016 study by FEF estimated that agricultural assets covered by the five-year restriction amounted to at least P387 billion, or more than $7.5 billion. This amount may even reach trillions of pesos if patents prior to 1980 were included.
“In the Philippines, the face of poverty is rural,” said FEF president Calixto Chikiamco. “Giving farmers the right to do what they would like with their land will be a big step in turning this trend around and will strengthen our democracy. This award can only inspire us to achieve even greater heights.”
The new agricultural free patent reform law means that formalized property rights will create opportunities for access to credit and greater land marketability.
The other finalists for Atlas Network’s 2019 Templeton Freedom Award were: Centre For Development and Enterprises Great Lakes, based in Bujumbura, Burundi, for its “Birashoboka” project; Lebanese Institute for Market Studies, based in Amsheet, Lebanon, for its work to liberalize the electricity market in Lebanon; Pacific Legal Foundation, based in Sacramento, California, for its litigation work to roll back unconstitutional regulation; Platte Institute, based in Omaha, Nebraska, for its occupational licensing reform initiative; Reason Foundation, based in Los Angeles, California, its work to advance public pension reform. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA
Meralco not about to go brown
Ray Espinosa, Meralco president and chief executive, said recently that its newly minted San Buenaventura Power Ltd.’s 455megawatt coal-fired power plant in Quezon could contribute to Meralco’s core business.
This may explain why he remains adamant that when it comes to sourcing 1,200 megawatts of electricity to supply its franchise area through a competitive selection process, Meralco has a preference for new or greenfield plants over existing or brownfield plants.
Espinosa justifies Meralco’s position: “It will be difficult for us to move to a situation where a greenfield capacity that we need to ensure reliable and affordable supply will eventually be open to older and preexisting plants that will crowd out investors or power generators who want to build new plants.”
But this stance might be killing competition as in Meralco’s attempt to conduct a competitive selection process (CSP) in September for the 1,200-MW requirement ended up in a failed bid because only one participated, Meralco’s 100-percent owned Atimonan One Energy Inc., with its proposed 1,200-MW Atimonan coal-fired power plant. Another failed bid will mean that Meralco can legally discard the CSP altogether and enter into a negotiated power supply agreement.
The prospect does not sit well with Energy Secretary Al Cusi .It also helps that he is a top official of PDP Laban, the political party that catapulted Rodrigo Roa Duterte to Malacañang.
Consumer welfare seems to be primordial to Cusi at this point. “We want it to be really a competitive selection. I don’t like to tweak it to favor anybody. So, let everyone participate, get the best price. Ano masama dun [What’s wrong with that]? That’s the objective of the CSP, which is to build capacity, promote competition,” he stressed.
Cusi has found an unlikely supporter in former congressman and now Bayan Muna Chair Neri Colmenares.
“Bidding terms that are favorable to one bidder and disadvantageous to others practically negate the bidding and do not assure cheaper rates for the people,” Colmenares said.
And this position has been echoed by Sen. Sherwin
Gatchalian, chair of the powerful Senate energy committee, who was quick to say, “All possible power plants, regardless of whether they are brownfield or greenfield, should be allowed to participate and compete in the CSP. Ito lang ang bukod tanging paraan para masiguro na pinakamababang presyo ng kuryente ang mabibili ng ating consumers [This is the only way to ensure the lowest price of electricity for consumers].
Who will prevail in the end? It’s anybody’s guess.