Working hours only

Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc. president John K.C. Ng is said to have gotten the support of all former federation presidents for his March 21 bid to be elected as president in his right.

Right now, Johnny Ng is serving the unfinished two-year term of the late Benjamin Chua Jr.

Presumably, this support includes that of former federation president and kingmaker of long standing, Lucio Tan.

Then again, the federation president is traditionally the man in Binondo perceived to have the strongest ties to Malacañang. Mr. Ng, uh, limits his calls to President Macapagal-Arroyo to working hours.

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The children of Jaime and Bea Zobel de Ayala, including Ayala Corp. president Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala II, haven’t been to the family rest home in Puerto Galera, Mindoro, for quite some time now.

The decision is said to be for their own good.

It’s no secret that Ms. Zobel de Ayala has a soft heart for the Mangyans of Mindoro and built a home to be near them. Okay, so the beachfront is to die for.

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Bank notes 1: This member of the board is expected to leave soon for the United States for a nose job. It seems the nose is rather wobbly.

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Bank notes 2: Juan Luna’s Parisian Life is currently vacationing in Cebu, the hometown of Government Service Insurance System president Winston Garcia.

The P50-million painting will be back at the GSIS Museum middle of next week.

Just as well, Mr. Garcia’s schedule this month is a killer — 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. meetings everyday for the next two weeks on what issues and concerns may affect the pension fund for government employees this year.

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Bank notes 3: Given his job as chairman of the Philippine National Bank, Francisco Dizon has had to delegate much of the running of investment and financial advisory firm, Pacific Northstar Inc., to vice-president Augusto Gonzalez.

Paquito Dizon and Beans (as in pork and) Gonzalez are both Ateneans who used to work with AB Capital & Investment Corp. chief executive officer and former Finance Secretary Ramon del Rosario Jr., a La Sallite.

The thing that’s keeping Pacific Northstar and Mr. Gonzalez busy is Project Quest Corp., a venture capital company that invests in or lends at zero interest to start-up companies.

It currently has exposure in four companies including Raymund Ricafort’s Digital Paradise, Inc., which owns the Netopia Internet café chain. (By the way, the Netopia franchise fee is P200,000 but the total investment for computers and the lease would probably add up to P2 million to P4 million, depending on the number of computers and the location.)

This year, Project Quest is pumping in money to three more ventures, among which is a mid-market healthcare business, and has money for three more.