August 2008 Happy birthday, Mr. Gabby Lopez! August 13 Available online at www.benpres-holdings.com First Balfour: Aiming for the top of the construction heap FIRST Balfour Inc., the engineering Less than a year from now, one of It also became a player in the con- and construction arm of the Lopez its blue-chip projects, the P5.8-billion struction business through a compa- Group, boasts of a body of work—39 St. Luke’s Medical Center in Bonifacio ny called Philippine Engineering and years’ worth—that is as ubiquitous as Global City (see sidebar), will be un- Construction Corporation (PECCO). the newest techie gadget, with each veiled, firmly establishing the company Forays into power transmission, individual project becoming a vital as a construction titan to reckon with. industrial plants and oil refineries soon part of Pinoys’ everyday life. Meralco Securities venture resulted in a new, more fitting name for The company is in the Light Rail In the 1960s, holding company PECO: Engineering and Construction CA upholds Meralco ...p.2 Transit (LRT) system that moves mil- Meralco Securities started venturing Corporation of Asia (ECCO-Asia). lions of Manilans from one end of the into a host of businesses following its In 1997, a 60:40 joint venture be- metro to the other every day; it is in financial and management triumphs tween ECCO-Asia parent FPHC and the bridges, roads and expressways with Meralco. The First Philippine Balfour Beatty of the United King- that connect our cities and towns; Holdings Corp. (FPHC) predecessor, dom gave birth to First Philippine and in the pipes and power plants in quick succession, entered the pipe- Balfour Beatty Inc. (FPBB); ECCO- that bring water and electricity to our line business, banking, and lubricat- Asia was listed as a subsidiary of the Business homes. ing oil and transformer manufacture. new JV company. Excellence Turn to page 6 Awards…p. 4 For the Asian Development Bank’s 2005 enhanced security access control (ESAC) project, First Balfour constructed three access/control buildings, the largest of which is on the main ADB Avenue entrance; the others are the side entrances on Guadix Drive and Bank Drive. Form a team of 10 to slim down in 80 days …p10 2 LOPEZLINK August 2008 LOPEZLINK August 2008 3 FPHC RP’s longest tollway disburses CA upholds Meralco SCTEX Tarlac now open Adherence to core values key THE Court of Appeals (CA) up- “It is indeed an indication that in forum shopping when it filed THE 93.77-kilometer Subic- The four- share sale held Meralco in its dispute with Meralco merely upheld what is a petition with the SEC even as a Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SC- lane, asphalt- the Government Service Insurance lawful, just and proper, not only in similar case was already pending TEX) is now fully operational concrete high- to Lopez business success System (GSIS) and the Securities the eyes of the public, but also in the before the Pasay RTC. with the opening of its second way has eight proceeds and Exchange Commission (SEC), eyes of the court,” Cuna stressed. The CA thus recommended stretch, the Clark-Tarlac segment, interchanges, 35 ‘THE ‘THE Winston Garcias of that he welcomed opportunities OML attributed the family’s beyond,” the Lopez Group chief voiding the cease and desist order Meralco elected its new board the filing of administrative cases on July 25. bridges, 255 culverts, 51 under- the world will come and go, just to share “how generations of ability to rise back from the added. FIRST Philippines Holdings issued by the latter in connection of directors on May 27, 2008 against Estrella Elamparo-Tayag, “With the full commercial passes and a state-of-the-art flood Corp. (FPHC) has disbursed about with the election of the company’s despite maneuvers from the GSIS Marcial Pimentel Jr. and Enrique operations of the SCTEX, travel management system. A computer- as the Marcoses and their cro- Lopezes have overcome crises to ashes to the Lopez DNA in busi- Giuliani, who was praised for P561.5 million of the P4.3 billion board members in May. camp to have 4,483 proxies vali- Pandan III. time from Subic to Tarlac is re- ized toll collection system and 24- nies did…. But I have no doubt emerge fresh and renewed…and ness: willingness to break old his handling of the September 11, in proceeds from the sale of its In its 57-page decision, the dated before the start of duced from more than two hours hour roadside assistance program that we will prevail because we stronger than ever.” paradigms; predisposition to be 2001 attack on the World Trade preferred shares in April. court agreed with the Meralco po- the voting. to 65 minutes, or 40 minutes from will also be implemented. always remain true to our core a pioneer, and readiness to invest Center in New York, also shared In a disclosure to the stock ex- sition that jurisdiction over “elec- In the same decision, Clark to Subic, and 25 minutes The P27.4-billion SCTEX, values through thick or thin.” in technology; desire to serve vital tenets on leadership, the change, the company reported that tion contests” and “intra-corporate the CA said the GSIS law- from Clark to Tarlac,” the Bases the country’s longest, is operated Thus said Lopez Group chair- the Filipino market; inclination foremost one being the impor- it paid a total of $6.9M in amorti- controversies” had been removed yers violated the lawyer’s Conversion Development Author- by the joint venture of First Phil- man Oscar M. Lopez (OML), toward opportunities in mass tance of setting goals and targets. zation and interest payments on its from the commission by Republic oath and displaced the ity (BCDA), which built the four- ippine Holdings Corp. (FPHC), speaking before the JC Binay media and public utilities; and “Attaining the goal is the $35-M term notes, which are due Act No. 8799 and is instead vested Office of the Govern- lane tollway, said. Egis Road Operation and interim Foundation leadership series, resilience despite adversity. fulcrum. Everything will revolve in 2011, and bought back $6M of in the regional trial court. ment Corporate Counsel Travel time to Subic from the operator Tollways Management the balance of its $52-M floating Elpi Cuna Jr., Meralco vice (OGCC), which should North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) Corp. (TMC). “Leadership in Times of Crisis,” “We have also persistently around it,” he stressed, adding rate notes due in 2009. president for corporate commu- represent government- in Balintawak is also faster at one NLEX access road held at the Makati Shangri-La subscribed to good governance, that “too many people don’t even The company also intends nication, said the company wel- owned and -controlled and a half hours, the BCDA added. Meanwhile, First Philippine Hotel on July 29, 2008. business excellence and social know where they are going.” to use part of the proceeds to comed the ruling, which proved corporations (GOCCs) Global standards Infrastructure Inc. (FPII) is shell- One Rockwell Former New York City Mayor responsibility as core values on Giuliani also emphasized the partially repay or refinance “what transpired in the stockhold- such as the GSIS. The GSIS general manager Winston Garcia The first section of the SC- ing out almost P1.5 billion for a Rudy Giuliani keynoted the one- which to anchor a sustainable importance of being optimistic, outstanding debts amounting to ers’ meeting was in accordance state insurance company’s with Meralco president Jesus Francisco in TEX, the 50.5-km. Subic-Clark road that will allow motorists to day conference, which was orga- enterprise. We have remained courageous and a risk taker. In some P1.5B. with the rule of law.” legal team also engaged file photo stretch, opened in April this year. bypass the congested Edsa-Balint- nized by Mayor Jejomar Binay consistent with the vision of addition, a good leader prepares The rest of the proceeds from awak area on their way to the sold out to mark the 137th anniversary of our founding fathers to serve relentlessly, and encourages the sale of the series B perpetual NLEX. Makati. our people well through fair, teamwork and communication, preferred shares will be used to The 2.5-kilometer access road, ALL 1,300 units of Number One Rockwell have pay for capital and operating ABS-CBN enhances live news coverage with Streambox which will connect Mindanao been fully sold, 28 months after preselling started in Even as he wondered, tongue transparent and prudent business he said. requirements, and fund strategic ABS-CBN enhances its cover- Maria Ressa, senior vice president operations while cutting costs and the video via broadband, HSDPA Avenue in Quezon City to Valen- the first quarter of 2006, Rockwell Land Corpora- in cheek, why the Lopez family practices,” OML added. “Relentless preparation is the acquisitions. age of breaking news by deploy- for ABS-CBN News and Current delivering high quality live and and BGAN networks. zuela, is part of the second phase tion (RLC) announced. always came to mind “when peo- Lopez Group chairman Oscar M. “That’s our only reason for key to crisis management,” he FPHC said it is looking to in- ing the Streambox, an IP (in- Affairs. “The Streambox ACT-L3 file-based video over low-data-rate “With its deployment of of the NLEX development. Rockwell’s signature development is a two-tow- ple talk of crises,” OML asserted Lopez. being, from my father’s time and added. crease its stake in Meralco follow- ternet Protocol)-based solution newsgathering solution enables us connections, such as BGAN, 3G Streambox, ABS-CBN sets the FPII president Angel S.