Will DAU get SkyCable at his price?

Dennis Anthony Uy (DAU) of Converge ICT may be playing coy now about his interest in SkyCable, but according to industry analysts who have been watching Converge’s aggressive push for its fiber optic network, Converge and SkyCable are the perfect fit.

SkyCable’s financial sinkhole that scuttled what would have been a good partnership with Pangilinan-owned PLDT, now gives DAU better leeway to get the Lopez-owned network at the price he wants.

According to analysts, DAU had been eyeing SkyCable as far back as last year, but always with the bottomline in mind that he would try to get the company at “his price.”

Converge has the largest fiber optic network which can offer up to eight million ports, but of which only two million are being used.

What Converge sorely lacks is the last mile retail segment that SkyCable can offer on a silver platter, and which PLDT had really wanted most, analysts said.

Converge, analysts said, still cannot penetrate the lucrative household segment that remains closed to the purple telco.

Upscale subdivisions like Dasmariñas and Forbes Park, remain “closed” to the DAU-led telco, analysts also said.

Likewise, Converge also faces difficulties in installing its fiber optic lines as most of the existing telephone poles belong to PLDT and would, thus, require more capital outlay and getting the necessary permits from local government units.

Congressional probe sought

Some stockholders of Abra Mining and Industrial Corp. are seeking a congressional probe on the continued lack of action on alleged trading irregularities in the mining stock which remains unresolved for more than three years now.

Below is a statement from MOST Law which represents investors in Abra Mining:

Stockbroker Victor Dominguez has been requesting for a congressional inquiry even as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) are still to formalize charges against the officials of Abra Mining who sold shares that were unlisted and unregistered and which led to the suspension of trading of the stocks that had accounted for 80 percent of trading from January to February in 2021.

Dominguez, in a radio-TV interview with the Aliw TV, said that PSE president Ramon Monzon had admitted in a letter to the MOST Law firm, which is representing hundreds of investors in Abra Mining, that the stock exchange had already concluded its investigation into the trading irregularities in Abra Mining that led to its suspension. However, no formal charges have been brought against the erring officials.

Monzon, in his letter-reply to MOST Law firm in January last year, acknowledged that the PSE has uncovered trading irregularities.

MOST Law had sent a letter to the PSE, as well as to the Philippine Depository & Trust Corp., regarding the status of investigation on Abra Mining and the findings made so far. The law firm said it is representing investors in the company that were left holding the empty bag due to the trading of unlisted shares.

According to Monzon, “the PSE has concluded its investigation and noted serious violations of the company not only of the PSE Listing and Disclosure Rules, but also of the Revised Corporation Code, the gravest being the lodgement and trading of AR shares which are not yet issued and recorded in the books of the company and for which no subscription payments were received by the company.”

Dominguez pointed out that Monzon specifically cited what he termed the “gravest” travesty of justice that Abra Mining has made against the investors in the market, and yet the PSE has not acted on the matter insofar as exercising PSE’s self-regulation organization status is concerned.

Dominguez thus questioned, “Why so? Having found out about the irregularities that occured two years prior, why has the PSE not moved at all?”

Dominguez claims that officials of Abra Mining had traded 250 billion shares though there were only 99 billion that were listed, resulting in its suspension that left in a limbo the hundreds of investors who had bought the said stock.

A congressional inquiry could lead to the crafting of legislation that would make it a criminal offense for the PSE or the SEC to drag their feet on matters concerning trading irregularities.

My Bad

My apologies to the son and daughter of former BSP Governor and now SM Investments Corp. (SMIC) chairman Amando “Say” Tetangco for mixing up their professions. In my column last Monday, I identified Mia as a lawyer, which led to the naming of the family’s pet dog as SC which stands for Supreme Court.

The lawyer in the family is actually Patrick and who currently works for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Mia is a creative writer and is the cat lover in the family, and who at one point adopted as many as 11 strays, so much so that they had to build a cat house for the cats. Unfortunately, through the years, some of the cats have gotten sick and died, while others wandered off and never returned, leaving only two cats – Gabby and Sunshine.

Sunshine follows Gov. Say around, and with whom he has developed a fondness for.