The go-to man

For many, Lucio Tan is the go-to man or the "last resort" for financial help.

Mr. Tan, whose calling card has "Dr." (but not yet "Ambassador") before his name, is said to have never refused a request for a one-on-one talk with "small" people whose names don’t ring a bell.

His logic? These people must really need help, otherwise they would not go through the humiliation of asking help from a stranger. Uhm, Mr. Tan is not as accommodating with corporate big shots and politicians. You see, he tends to think such people have an agenda.

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Bangko Sentral Governor Rafael Buenaventura answers all letters addressed to him.

In the case of letters of complaints against banks, Paeng Buenaventura asks the president of the bank involved (in official Bangko Sentral stationery, mind you) to resolve the complaint as quickly as possible and to update him on how the complaint was settled.

Mr. Buenaventura is the kind of manager who gives his people lots of room to maneuver but expects to be updated – either at the initiative of the executve concerned (which is the better tack) or when Mr. Buenaventura remembers (which he invariably does).

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Just wondering 1: How come the water is cold and needs warming up in some hot springs resorts in Laguna?

If one were of a more suspicious bent, one would imagine that the proliferation of so many resorts have put a strain on the supply of hot water produced by nature and that man-made solutions have had to be put in place – only when demand for hot water is extremely high, of course.

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Just wondering 2: How come the number of hills that are Bohol's major tourist attraction varies?

Based on the counting, a couple of Chocolate Hills (which are brown during the dry season and green during that wet season) seems to disappear every year. And there hasn't been a major shift in the tectonic plates of that area for ages.

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Bank notes: The guessing game on who will replace Citibank corporate country manager Catherine Weir is on. Cathy Weir's three-year posting is almost over.

To get the job, one must, of course, be good at the job. As much as possible, one mustn’t have been born and raised in the country where he/she is being assigned to. (This is to reduce the chumminess that could result in bad lending decisions.) And yes, one must also have a sponsor or a padrino.

In the case of Ms. Weir, she had/has the backing of Stephen Long, who was himself the corporate country manager in the Philippines (for less than a year) after the banking industry was liberalized and opened to more foreign banks.

Steve Long has since moved up the corporate ladder and is now regional head for Citi’s corporate banking side of the business.