Oil contracts pending
The Energy Department has sought guidance from the Finance Department on the awarding of oil and gas exploration contracts on areas near the disputed territories in the West Philippine Sea.
Energy Secretary Zenaida Monsada said the awarding of service contracts under the so-called 5th Philippine Energy Contracting Round had been delayed
“What we did, we passed it on to DoF so they can review all the conditions because there were earlier guidelines… Finance approval of the contracts [is needed]. They have to endorse the contracts,” Monsada said.
She said Energy would submit contracts for final approval by Malacañang after the Finance Department endorsed them.
The contract areas included Area 7 (Recto Bank block) covering 468,000 hectares, which received an offer from Colossal Petroleum Corp., an unit of listed Coal Asia Holdings Inc.
Alena Mae S. Flores
Cirtek investment
Cirtek Holdings Philippines Corp. said Monday it invested in CloudMondo, a start-up company founded by renowned Filipino entrepreneur and Silicon Valley pioneer Diosdado Banatao.
Cirtek chairman Jerry Liu said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the deal would enable the company to expand its business from manufacturing to connectivity and content.
Cirtek under the deal is expected to manufacture and supply millimeter wave radios in the 60 to 80 GHz spectrum to Cloudmondo.
“We are pleased with the opportunity to be a strategic co-investor in CloudMondo. Our involvement puts TECH in an excellent position to jumpstart and expand our business from manufacturing to connectivity and content,” said Liu. Jenniffer B. Austria
Smart divestment
The broadband unit of Smart Communications Inc. obtained a regulatory approval to sell its landline business to PLDT-Philcom Inc. for P308.3 million.
The National Telecommunications Commission said it approved the asset sale and purchase agreement jointly filed by Smart Broadband Inc. and PLDT-Philcom in August 2013
Smart Broadband signed an agreement to sell, assign and transfer to Philcom all its LEC assets and telecommunications business in Mindanao.
Smart Broadband is a holder of several certificate of public convenience and necessity and provisional authority to install and operate LEC services in Surigao City; Butuan City; Cabadbaran, Agusan del Norte; Tagum, Davao del Norte; Bayugan, Prosperidad, San Francisco in Agusan del Sur province; Cagayan de Oro City; and Medina, Balingasag, Misamis Oriental.
Darwin G. Amojelar