If plans pushes through, the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has been looking for a new headquarters for several years now, may have a new home before the end of the year.
SEC chairperson Teresita Herbosa, who has been pushing for the transfer of SEC to a new location, said the new office would be at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.
The SEC will be occupying the same office vacated by Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office sometime last year to give way to the rehabilitation of PICC. Herbosa said PICC was found to be a suitable site for the corporate regulator, after several previous attempts to look for a new headquarters.
It previously planned to transfer to new headquarters in Bonifacio Global City, in a building owned by Korean shipbuilder Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Corp. The plan, however, was opposed by some SEC employees.
Herbosa is hopeful that negotiations between SEC and PICC will go smoothly, as both are government entities. Jenniffer B. Austria
Several PSE employees are anti Pro-Friends
Real estate developer Pro-Friends Group Inc. is having a hard time securing regulatory approval for an initial public offering, apparently because of an anti Pro-Friends lobby instigated by several employees of the Philippine Stock Exchange itself.
Sources said several PSE employees, with existing complaints against Pro-Friends, stormed to the listing department of the exchange upon learning that the Mandaluyong City-based mass housing developer had filed an IPO application, and strongly lobbied that the application be rejected.
The PSE employees, apparently Pro-Friends housing buyers, are allegedly not happy with the property developer and cited several complaints against the company.
Pro-Friends president Guillermo Choa earlier said while the company remained interested in listing with the PSE, it was also considering other options to raise funds to finance projects. Jenniffer B. Austria
Developer opens new Quezon City sports club
Real estate developer New San Jose Builders, the company behind Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar, The Philippine Arena and Victoria Towers, announced its plan to venture into sports and wellness.
The company said it would open membership to Victoria Sports, located along Edsa in South Triangle near GMA7-Kamuning MRT station, starting July 2015. The club will be housed at the Victoria Sports Tower, one of the latest mixed-use developments of New San Jose Builders, which built residential properties such as Victoria Towers in Quezon City, Victoria de Manila, Isabelle de Valenzuela and Fort Victoria in BGC.
The company said club memberships would be available for individuals or groups and would be ideal for fitness enthusiasts who are looking for a one-stop hub. The club will put up tennis courts, a basketball court that can be converted for volleyball use, badminton courts, squash court, virtual golf rooms, Olympic-sized lap pool, climbing wall, billiard tables, bowling lanes, boxing rings and a shooting range.
It will also have a multi-purpose room to house Pilates, Bikram yoga, aerobics and different dance lessons. Six private gyms will be put up for those who want seclusion during their training and workout. Roderick T. dela Cruz
AFAB to build housing complex for employees
A housing complex will soon rise on a 100-hectare property for over 20,000 employees at the Freeport Area of Bataan.
Deogracias Custodio, the chairman and administrator of the Authority of Freeport Area of Bataan, which operates the economic zone, said the plan was to build a housing project for the employees.
“One of the important priorities for FAB moving forward and in the near future is housing because we’re at the tip of the Bataan peninsula. A lot of the workers really can’t go back and forth if they happen to live in other parts of the province, so it’s good that they have their houses right there,” Custodio said.
He said AFAB was in talks with the housing authorities and the local government of Bataan on how to subsidize the housing project for almost 23,000 employees of the ecozone.
The target location for the 100-hectare housing facility was within the Freeport originally, but Custodio said there was insufficient land area for the project within the Freeport. They now now planning to build it outside FAB, considered one of the fastest growing ecozones in the country.
Last year, AFAB attracted P84 billion worth of investments, mainly because of a new power project in the area. Gabrielle H. Binaday