THE group of Manuel Pangilinan, chairman of Metro Pacific Investment Corp., has pulled out of a consortium that is the sole bidder for the 25-year concession to manage the Manila North Harbor, according to sources close to the transaction.

The supposed withdrawal emerged only two months after Pangilinan?s camp announced that it would no longer pursue the expansion of the North Luzon expressway as envisioned by Metro Pacific?s subsidiary First Philippine Infrastructure Inc.

The twin moves bolster reports that the Pangilinan group is conserving its financial resources to concentrate on its P20-billion investment in Manila Electric Co.

Metro Pacific?s withdrawal from the North Harbor deal came amid reports that Pangilinan had failed to fulfill his financial commitments to businessman Reghis Romero II, owner of Harbour Center Port Terminal Inc., which operates the pier that serves domestic traffic.

As part of the venture, Pangilinan was to pay Romero an undetermined sum that would allow Romero to buy into the Burger King Titans professional basketball team, which Pangilinan co-owns with sportsmen Ricky Vargas, Lito Alvarez and Alberto Lina.

Romero, who owns the Harbour Center franchise in the Philippine Basketball League, even gave up his PBL franchise, which used to be managed by his son Mikee, so that he could in return buy into the Burger King Titans franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association.

Mikee was later appointed alternate governor to the PBA board, assuming the role of team manager and even hiring a new coach in Yeng Guiao.

But Standard Today learned earlier this month that officials of the Burger King Titans had been looking for a way to remove Mikee as team manager without embarrassing him because his failure to infuse capital into the Burger King Titans had removed his right to remain with the basketball team.

Former PBA chairman Vargas confirmed that Mikee was removed because ?nobody appointed him as team manager,? but Vargas later recanted his admission and said Mikee would remain team manager.

The Manila North Harbor consortium was formed in 2007 to bid for the port?s operations, but that was derailed when other bidders were disqualified and port unions demanded that the government hold a new bidding.

The Philippine Port Authority subsequently suspended the process, forcing the Pangilinan-Romero consortium to ask the Manila Regional Trial Court to force the Authority to proceed.

Last December, the court approved a compromise agreement between the consortium and the Authority.

But the delay was said to have led the Metro Pacific group camp to rethink the North Harbor venture, especially after it acquired a substantial interest in Meralco. Ronnie Nathanielz