A new lease on life

Employees of debt-ridden government television station Intercontinental Broadcasting Corp. (IBC 13) have found new hope after management found a brilliant way of raising money for the company, partly to keep it going and largely to keep the employees happy.

Labor unions including the the IBC 13 Employees Union and the IBC Directors and Supervisors Union have lauded a move of management to enter into a joint venture agreement with a land developer as a means for the staff  to keep their jobs, receive their past benefits and back wages, and probably for the company to get back on its feet.

After all, privatization of sequestered IBC 13 seems to be a losing proposition, especially since no one has signified interest in a company with so much debts of around P650 million and which is losing as much as P80 million every year.

IBC has reportedly entered into a joint venture agreement with property developer Primestate Ventures Inc. under which the latter will modernize the IBC building, which houses IBC 13 and RPN 9, and at the same time develop the 4.1-hectare Broadcast City property in Quezon City into a mixed-use commercial and residential complex.

In the next five years, IBC 13 will be transformed a broadcasting company with outdated and dilapidated structures and equipment into a modern and competitive one that could even rival the industry’s giants.

Under the develop, finance and build scheme, Primestate Ventures will build a new IBC corporate building, one that is tailor-made for IBC 13 operations, with office spaces, built-in modern studios and complementary amenities sufficient to house at least two network operations.

All these will be made at no expense to government. In fact, the developer will even be advancing funds to settle management’s outstanding obligations to its employees.

The joint venture deal was signed last March 24 in the presence of representatives from the two labor unions, which also inked a memorandum of agreement with management allocating the full P278 million cash component of IBC-13’s expected revenues for the settlement of arrears in employee benefits. Attached to the MOA is a payment schedule detailing how the P278 million will be distributed to each and every employee.   

Under the joint venture, IBC 13 stands to receive guaranteed revenues of P728 million, or roughly P20,000 per square meter. This is much higher than the P10,000 per square meter appraisal of both the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Quezon City government for the IBC 13 property to be developed by Primestate, and the P11,000 per square meter and P8,000 per square meter appraisals by IBC 13’s  independent appraisers.     

Officials disclosed that the investment of IBC 13 in the joint venture is fully secured by a performance bond, and shall be more than compensated by the delivery of a new corporate building for IBC-13, complete with live studios and network facilities sufficient to accommodate even the requirements of RPN-9, which also operates in Broadcast City, a commercial building which it can use to generate additional income, and the P278 million cash component to be used to pay for its outstanding obligations to its employees.

It is estimated that IBC will have a guaranteed income of P275 million in the next six years, not to mention the added benefits from having modern broadcasting facilities, studios, and offices.

In addition, IBC 13 employees can avail of additional benefits in the form of special rates of discounts and additional income opportunities in the form of referral incentives for selling units in the residential project to be developed by Primestate. 

A self-contained residential hub of medium-rise condominium buildings will be constructed in the broadcast city complex and IBC 13 will have a substantial share in the revenues that will be generated, officials added.

The deal between IBC and Primestate had the go-signal of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) since IBC is a sequestered firm, and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

Primestate last year submitted an unsolicited proposal to develop the Broadcast City complex. After a series of negotiations, the proposal was subjected to comparative challenges to ensure that the government is getting the best deal. When no superior challenge was received, the draft joint venture agreement was submitted to the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) for legal opinion. After receiving the green light from the OGCC, the parties signed the agreement last March 24.

Aside from the PCGG, NEDA and OGCC, the Commission on Audit (COA), the Philippine Contractors Association and the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants also scrutinized the JV proposal as part of the JV Selection Committee that evaluated the the project.

IBC was set up by the Benedicto Group of Companies in 1975. However, after former President Marcos was deposed, it was sequestered by the PCGG after Roberto Benedicto was implicated as one of Marcos’ cronies. In 1992, the Philippine government assumed full ownership of IBC following a compromise agreement between the PCGG and Benedicto.

Bellavista controversy

A warrant of arrest has been issued by a Batangas regional trial court against socialite Maria Josefina del Gallego, the ex-wife of former Standard Chartered Bank country head Ervin Knox on charges of robbery.

The charges stemmed from a complaint filed by Verdant Treasures Inc., a company owned by businessman Mel Velarde, against Del Gallego following the sale in August 2009 by the latter of the beautiful white house known as Bellavista designed by Ed Calma in Punta Fuego, Batangas to Verdant.

Although the contract of sale specifically stated that the sale included all items in the house, Verdant claimed that two weeks after the sale, it has been alleged that Del Gallego, together with her lawyer and six unidentified armed men, entered the property while the new owner was away and took away several items such as valuable art works and expensive home furnishings, packed them into different luggage before finally loading them into their vehicles and driving away. 

Thereafter, del Gallego demanded from the new owner additional payment in the amount of $300,000 in exchange for the return of the items taken away, saying these were not part of the sale. Del Gallego has received full payment from Verdant as attested to by the transfer to del Gallego’s bank account. Interestingly, the former and new owners share the same bank.

The motion to withhold issuance of warrant of arrest filed by the Kapunan Lotilla Garcia & Castillo Law Offices on behalf of del Gallego was denied by the court. Trial of the case is expected to start this month. 

Del Gallego voluntarily appeared in court to post bail for her conditional freedom. 

Now, del Gallego claims that the documents for the sale of the property lock, stock and barrel which she signed had been falsified, a matter which of course she has to prove in court.  

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