Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. will deploy around 400 vehicles to transport officials and delegates of the Asia Pacific Economic Conference, which will culminate in a summit of 21 world leaders in Manila Nov. 17 and 18.
TMP vice president for communications Rommel Gutierrez said about 400 Toyota vehicles would trasnport Apec officials and delegates from 21 countries, from the airport and hotels to the event sites, mainly the Philippine International Convention Center.
“We’ve been supporting since early this year all Apec-related meetings,” Gutierrez said.
Toyota is one of several automotive companies that were tapped as mobility partners for the Apec events, which were held in other parts of the country.
Toyota said that from January until October, it supported 20 major Apec events in Manila, Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo, Bataan and Tagaytay. The company said this month it would continue supporting the Apec events in Manila, starting Nov. 12 to 13 for the concluding senior officials’ meeting at the PICC, simultaneous with the Apec Business Advisory Council meeting on Nov. 12 to 15. Other Toyota-sponsored events are the Apec Ministerial Meeting on Nov. 15 to 16, Apec CEO Summit on Nov. 15 to 17, Apec Economic Leaders’ Meeting on Nov. 17 to 18 and Abac Dialog with Leaders on Nov. 17.
Philstocks let go of its chairman
Philstocks Financial Inc. chairman Antonio Herbosa has offered to resign immediately, apparently to have the brokerage company’s application for initial public offering approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
It appears that one reason for the delay in the approval of the P185-million IPO was the complaints the corporate regulator received against Traders Apprentice Pilipinas, an online discussion group about investing in the stock market, which is also led by Herbosa as founder and chief executive.
With Herbosa out, Philstocks believes that SEC has no more reason to delay its approval of the planned IPO. Philstocks said any more delay in the IPO would have a significant impact on the fund raising activity, as investors might lose interest.
Herbosa was replaced by Paul Wee, a major shareholder, as the new chairman of Philstocks, formerly known as Accord Capital Equities Corp. Jenniffer B. Austria
MRT 3 air-conditioning parts arrive
The air-conditioning system at Metro Rail Transit Line 3 is expected to improve soon, following the arrival of spare parts for the Czech-made trains.
Schunk Bahn und-Industrietechnik-Comm Builders and Technology Philippines, the German-Filipino joint venture that won the six-month rolling stock and signaling systems maintenance contract, said it took delivery of the spare parts that would likely lessen incidents of malfunctions usually linked to the air-conditioning system.
While the joint venture placed orders in July, when it bagged the contract, the spare parts from the equipment manufacturer in Europe had just recently arrived, because there was a four-month waiting time in delivery, according to CB&T president and chief executive Roehl Bacar.
Bacar said the air-con spare parts were vital in MRT 3 operations, “as most of the train defects and pullouts are due to aircon malfunctions.” He said he was hopeful that with the arrival of the spare parts, the Transportation Department would settle the bill with the maintenance provider. He said that five months into the sixth-month deal, SBI-CBT received less than 15 percent on their billings, forcing the company to resort to borrowing from banks to fulfill its commitment to MRT passengers. The Transportation Department is in the process of negotiating for a longer, three-year contract for the maintenance of the mass transit system. Roderick T. dela Cruz
Globe expects to trounce Smart in iPhone sales
Globe Telecom Inc. expects to outpace rival Smart Communications Inc. in terms of selling the most number of iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus units.
“We expect [sales] to be slightly lower, but still higher than the iPhone 5s. That seems to be the trend. Some people will wait if there are any bugs, so they’ll take the next version,” Alberto de Larazabal, Globe’s chief commercial officer, said.
De Larrazabal said the company decided to have a small launch for the new iPhone, unlike the previous launching when subscribers would line up the whole day just to get their iPhones.
He said Globe was optimistic about the sales of the new iPhone and would continue to outperform Smart in terms of selling the most number of units. “I think we continue to have the leadership in post-paid. We continue to be the preferred delivery for data, so we believe we will continue to outperform,” De Larrazabal said.
Both Globe and Smart started offering the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus on Nov. 6, with bigger data allocation and other freebies. Darwin G. Amojelar