Something’s a’brewin

We got a hot tip from an industry insider that a supplier for bigtime businesses that include coffee and food chains, banking, and malls (to name a few) is allegedly peddling smuggled goods (read: computer units and accessories) into the country for quite sometime now.

In fact, the tell-tale signs were all over the place again when a reputable computer vendor who happens to be a sister company of a giant mall network was unfairly junked after winning a bid for a computer project of a well-known service-oriented company.

Sadly, the latter’s effort to go through the process, fair and square, all went to naught because the unscrupulous supplier supposedly got the "right connections" on both sides of the fence. A few days after announcing the winning bidder, the awarding was recalled and the original vendor was unceremoniously dumped, all because the other supplier offered an even much lower bid. Never mind if the bidding process was over by then. But here’s the catch: the other supplier was able to get away with this because their computer units were feared to have entered through the backdoor and thus can be offered at very cheap prices.

This unethical practice doesn’t speak well for the computer industry nor does it bode well for the recipient company. I’m sure any management wouldn’t want their business associated with vendors who have shady backgrounds. Unscrupulous dealers, smugglers or not, who are into unfair practices should have no place in any business as they give the industry they belong to a bad name. Let alone, their actions have an adverse impact on the economy. Let’s hope the procurement and computer departments of private and public sectors do not tolerate such utter disregard of ethical standards.

We’ll closely monitor where this brewing controversy will happen next.

Internet use on the rise

The number of Internet users in the country is growing at a very fast rate.

AC Nielsen projects that as of end-September this year, there will be nine million Internet users in the Philippines, compared to a level of 7.5 million as of end-2005. User growth rate is placed at 30 percent.

Of the nine million, around 50 percent access the Net in the office, which is good news because this means that the World Wide Web is being used for some productive purpose. And why do we say this? Because many offices restrict Internet access to make sure that employees use their computers for office-related search. Who cares if the rest of the remaining 50 percent might be using it for gaming or other unproductive endeavors like looking for the latest cellphone model? At least the Philippines is managing to catch up with the rest of the world.

According to the AC Nielsen survey, about two million are regular users (logging in four to five times a year) and coming from the A, B, and broad C spectra.

Filipino online portal Yehey! expects to ride on this phenomenal growth and more, to contribute to it, as it embarks on a conscious effort to become globally competitive.

Yehey! president Donald Patrick Lim tells us that they are tying up with Google for the use of the latter’s backend so that Yehey! searchers can use Google’s Gmail (which is one gig) to open an e-mail account. By the way, Yehey! Search has been integrated to Google since last year which allowed Yehey! to utilize Google’s search technology in helping users get the information they are looking for easier and faster.

But there are more exciting things happening at Yehey! According to the company chief executive, they are relaunching their payment gateway by the end of the week. It is called Kaban and is in partnership with Bancnet, Visa, Mastercard, JBC, and Globe’s G-Cash. Around 30 merchants have already signed up, which means that all you have to do is go to Yehey! and you can now use your ATM card, credit card, and G-Cash to buy online. Lim expects the number of merchants to increase as word about this new service gets around.

A time bomb?

Passengers and cargo clients of M/V Subic Bay of Carlos A. Gothong Lines, Inc. (CAGLI) voiced out their complaints to maritime authorities recently after the ship once again cancelled its voyages this time, for the next four months.

Reason: A damaged crankshaft of the M/V Subic Bay which could take up to four months to repair or in a worst-case scenario, a year and a half to order and install a new crankshaft from Japan .

Clients of CAGLI particularly, its cargo shippers said that with this breakdown of the M/V Subic Bay, they are now scrambling to get available slots for their cargo with other shipping companies since CAGLI has not offered them an alternative.

Passengers on the other hand are thankful that this recent breakdown of the M/V Subic Bay did not happen while they were at sea.

Complaints against CAGLI have been mounting since the company was resurrected some three years back. Keen maritime observers have even noted that despite the ban on the importation of ships exceeding the 20-year age limit, CAGLI was still able to bring in antiquated ships and even operate them in prime domestic routes.

Influential people in Cebu where CAGLI operates from said that it was through the intercession and pressure from certain congressmen on the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) that made it possible for the shipping company to bring in its ships which are in fact more than 30 years old.

Continuous breakdown of CAGLI ships has also been attributed to poor maintenance. CAGLI according to sources in the maritime industry has been able to attract customers by offering rates way below industry prescribed prices. However, this has reflected on the way their ships are being maintained. Maintenance and safety have taken a back seat in CAGLI’s heirarchy of expenditures.

Perhaps our maritime authorities need another wake up before another disaster at sea happens.

Not so hidden agenda

New Hat: Bukidnon Gov. Joe Zubiri has just been elected as the new national president of the Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations or Confed, the largest aggrupation of sugar farmers in the country. The Sugarcane Growers Association of Bukidnon which he represents in Confed and of which he is also the moving force is the biggest in the country with 8,234 members, and accounts for 52 percent of production in the province. Knowing Joe way way back when he was still a fiery, hard-hitting, but very effective congressman (his son Migs is now the representative of the province in the Lower House) and from his reputation as a well-respected and a very hard working governor, we know that the sugar industry is in good hands.

Improved earnings: ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. expects to end 2006 on a very high note. In fact, we’ve heard that as of August this year, the Lopez-owned television and radio network has already posted a P600-million net income. Its earnings before interests, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) has grown at a double digit rate and this trend is expected until the end of the year. ABS-CBN, now run by Gabby Lopez, has achieved this (inspite of rather gloomy advertising revenues for the entire tv industry) partly on the strength of its international business and partly due to cost-cutting measures, but largely because it is now giving arch-rival GMA Network a tough fight for the number one slot.

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