MASUERTI!: How lucky can some people get!

As first cited in our Postscript of last March 27, a three-month-old firm with only P62,500 in paid-up capital and which cannot be located at its advertised address was awarded by the National Power Corp. a coal supply contract worth P956,374,204.50!

What considerations prompted Napocor to give the lucky firm, known as PT Marsitero Marloan Prakarsa/ Transpacific Consolidated Resources Inc., a contract grossly out of proportion to its financial capability?

Transpacific, or TCRI for short, was registered on Oct. 25, 2007. After three months (Feb. 12), it received an invitation from the Napocor to bid for three panamax shipments of coal for the Pagbilao power plant for a contract worth more than P320 million.

(“Panamax” is the kind of vessel that fits in the Panama Canal's lock chambers. A panamax cargo ship would typically have a displacement of around 65,000 tons.)

* * *

UNDERCAPITALIZED: Eventually, as Napocor later announced, the total value of the award to Marsitero/TCRI ballooned to P956,374,204.50 C&F (cost and freight). There was no immediate explanation for the P600-million added.

The records show that TCRI has an authorized capital stock of P1 million, P250,000 of which had been subscribed and only P62,500 actually paid-up at the time of the invitation.

The firm, btw, keeps it bank deposit with a little known bank in Cebu City called Peninsula Rural Bank.

Being undercapitalized, how could TCRI have imported the coal, paid the performance security or the bank guarantee (10 percent of the total contract price of P320 million)? How could it have secured a surety bond from the GSIS worth 30 percent of the total contract price?

* * *

FAVORITISM: Was the brand-new firm organized just to accept Napocor's invitation? Among thousands of big trading companies in the country, why was TRCI invited by Napocor Vice President Juan Carlos Guadarrama, chairman of the bids and awards committee?

Has any one of the TCRI incorporators -- Leslie Ducut, Ressie Ducut, Lilia Yolanda Tuadles, Wilfredo Tuadles and Lorna Arceo -- been engaged previously in coal trading? Is there somebody else, quite influential in Napocor, behind TRCI?

What ever means were employed to go around the technical and financial requirements for engaging in big-time coal trading would be interesting to those monitoring Napocor's multibillion-peso coal business.

A mafia in the power firm has been accused of doling out sweetheart deals to favored parties. Such transaction as that with TCRI does not help dispel suspicion of favoritism, if not outright corruption.

* * *

MIDDLEMAN: Napocor ended up awarding TCRI a three-month contract worth P956 million-plus. The deal covers three monthly shipments of 65,000 MT each starting April, for Pagbilao, at $109.50 per MT inclusive of freight cost.

Per its registration papers, TCRI is not a coal supplier but merely a coal trader -- a middleman. Why is Napocor using middlemen when it can deal directly with coal suppliers and get lower prices?

Committed to reduce or at least stabilize power rates, Napocor should be interested in getting the lowest possible price for the fuel of its generating plants. Fuel is the biggest input cost of power.

* * *

NOMAD: When invited to submit a bid, TCRI listed as its address the business center of Danara Hotel in Quezon City. That detail alone should have alerted Napocor that something was amiss.

Why would a company offering to supply more than P320 million worth of coal not have a regular office and prefers to squat at the lobby of a small hotel? This looks like a variation of doing business from a PO (post office) box.

Worse, a check with the hotel showed that the business center misrepresented as the TRCI address was no longer operating two months before its address was used. How were the important papers sent and delivered?

In the notice of award, TCRI had a new address: Room 2405, Atlanta Center in Annapolis, Greenhills, San Juan. Like a nomad, TCRI changes addresses often -- from Danao City in Cebu, to the Danara Hotel in Quezon City, to Atlanta Center in San Juan in just three months. Why cannot TCRI stay put?

It is curious also that of the incorporators, only one, Wilfredo Tuadles, submitted his community tax certificate (cedula), which is a document required for registration.

* * *

RICE ON TARGET: Now that the ZTE National Broadband Network issue has been squeezed dry as a propaganda vehicle, Arroyo-bashers have latched on to rice -- a politically sensitive item -- as the new target of their firepower.

Rice happens to be a convenient issue because its price has gone up everywhere, including abroad. It is easy whipping up a scare since rice is a basic food item and the average housewife usually associates its rising price to dwindling supply.

In the din and dust of political combat, is not noticed readily that the rice problem being drummed into the pubic consciousness is not one of SUPPLY but of PRICE.

As it is now turning out, there is enough rice to tide the country over until the coming harvest and on through the lean months. The problem is that its price has gone up.

The tragedy is that the opposition barrage that a shortage is in the offing may just come true -- if the people are stampeded into panic buying and dealers resort to hoarding in expectation of higher prices.

* * *