After reports that President Gloria Arroyo has scheduled a meeting with the Lopezes, owner of the Manila Electric Company and the ABS-CBN television station in the Philippines, in one of the m he wilost beautiful beach resorts in Bohol, Philippines, rumors were circulating that it could be disadvantageous to the plan of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) to buy out the Lopezes’ stakes in Meralco at the right price.
GSIS general manager and president Winston Garcia has been harping of a government takeover should the Lopez family is willing to dispose of their shares in Meralco in order to change the electric company’s management, which Garcia believes is ineffective and dishonest in their dealings with the millions of hapless consumers in Metro Manila.
It was hard to comprehend as to why Garcia was left out in the cold, rather than be a part of the president’s entourage to Bohol. It could be that the president wanted to find out from the Lopez family what happened in their earlier discussions with the GSIS official. As this developed, Garcia is banking on the pretext that the meeting could turn out negative for him. But he told media that he is ready anytime should the president decides in favor of the Lopezes. As Garcia said, he serves at the pleasure of the president. And perhaps, should the time comes for him to leave the government he will do so without question.
Earlier, media have reported negative comments about how Garcia behaves during the Meralco board meetings. Board members have considered Garcia to be harsh and demanding. But Garcia said that he was only doing his job, knowing that he represents the majority stakes of government in Meralco.
Everytime, Garcia would ask the board to furnish him documents of Meralco transactions, which the electric firm couldn’t immediately give thereby raising suspicion that it is doing monkey business at the expense of the millions of poor consumers, who were carying the heavy burdens of shouldering the system’s losses of the power firm.
From what I read, Garcia might be doing a good job. But I couldn’t decipher as to whether he is really sincere in his efforts to takeover Meralco for the benefit of the people and the government interests. Unless he has other plans, the takeover issue will be dependent upon the present economic and political situation in the country.
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