THE PHILIPPINES’ FORUM FOR INTERNATIONAL READERS SINCE 1981 www.expatphilippines.ph
STILL IN STORES
January 10-23, 2016 Vol. XXXIV No. 7
N E W S PA P E R
Pinoys ring in the new year with a spectacularly vibrant fireworks display at the massive Philippine Arena grounds. Photo courtesy of Jun Ryan Rivera Arañas
Firms opt out of PhP3.81-B MRT deal P By VIA BAROMA
assengers of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) will have to wait longer for the significantly improved service level promised by the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), as the maintenance of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) is left in uncertainty after the Korean-Filipino firms expressed wanting out of the new deal. After being awarded the PhP3.81-B MRT long-term maintenance contract to the Joint Venture of Busan Transportation Corporation, Edison Development & Construction, Tramat Merchantile Inc., TMICorp Inc., and Castan Corporation on Christmas Eve, the firms expressed concern about the lawsuits that the company may face in connection with the deal that went through without public bidding and awarded through negotiated procurement after the DOTC cited an “emergency.”
According to a Philippine Star report, the DOTC opposed the withdrawal of Busan, which has technical expertise for the service. The new six-month maintenance contract is supposed to start on Jan. 5. On the other hand, the DOTC reportedly offered a one-month extension to the previous group, but the Philippine-German contractor of the rolling stock and signaling systems also declined, citing the government’s failure to pay the company full. In a released statement, Roehl Bacar, representative of the German-Filipino joint venture maintenance contractor Schunk Bahnund Industreitechnik-Comm Builders and Technology Philippines (SBI-CBT JV), said the DOTC paid them only PhP28 million of the PhP131 million agreed upon for the sixmonth contract. Bacar said his company is still waiting for the balance of around PhP102 million.
He added that the government asked them to provide spare parts for the trains in case of malfunction, despite payment not being made. PhP3.81-B deal recap Citing an emergency, the DOTC awarded, without public bidding, the PhP3.81 billion long-term contract of the problematic Metro Rail Transit 3 or MRT-3 to the Korean-Filipino company. The joint venture of the firms was tasked, under the deal, to fulfill the general maintenance requirements of MRT-3 for three years. A DOTC statement said the contract aims to improve the services of the glitch-prone MRT-3, which spans the North Avenue station in Quezon City to Taft Avenue in Pasay City. page 3 “Beginning Jan. 5 next year,
Retiring in the Philippines: Hitting two birds with one stone Why the older generation is choosing the Philippines for investment and retirement By CHING DEE
J
ust a few days before Christmas, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) released an article about the Philippines rolling out a welcome mat for more foreign retirees in 2016. So, what does this mean? This means making the Philippine landscape more enticing that it actually lures people to spend the rest of their days here despite the traffic and mayhem that is Metro Manila. How you ask? Well, it’s a slow dance between the government and private companies and boy, what a dance number. In the WSJ article, Trefor Moss wrote that the Philippine government is partnering with real estate giant Megaworld in their efforts “to lure graying Asians to its shores,” hoping that this influx of retirees will turn into what Moss called “the retirement business.” According to Megaworld page 6 Assistant Vice President Wilson