Willy Parayno’s briefcase

Did you know 1: Guam honorary ambassador Lucio Tan recently donated $1 million to the University of Guam – to do whatever it wishes with the money.

Then again, Mr. Tan – who is worth $1.9 billion, according to Forbes magazine – is a sucker for any education-related project in need of funding.

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Did you know 2: Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Guillermo Parayno carries a briefcase (it’s bigger than the tennis racket jacket at least one banker uses to carry his semi-automatic in his car) even to lunch appointments. This way, Willy Parayno hopes to make a dent on his paper load while waiting for his colleagues.

The problem is, people seem to want to shake Mr. Parayno’s hand or talk to him, wherever he goes.

Mr. Parayno, however, remains hopeful – and continues to carry that heavy briefcase.

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President Macapagal-Arroyo has yet to confirm her attendance at the March 21 convention/election of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc.

The President unknowingly started the infighting for federation president when she announced last Dec. 30 that she is not running in 2004. In Binondo, that is understood to mean that Ms. Macapagal-Arroyo’s "anointed" or choice of federation president – one of the major requirements for the two-year job – no longer carries that much weight as in previous administrations.

Then again, federation vice-president Francis Chua is said to have been following up the whole week with relatively new friend, Mike Arroyo, on a possible private talk between the President and federation executive vice-president Robin Sy.

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If San Miguel Corp. chairman and chief executive officer Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. has a national economic recovery plan, it would easily be summed up as follows:

• Charity begins at home – the country does not need foreign investors to grow the economy; it needs Filipinos based here and abroad to invest in the Philippines;

• Level tax-paying field – the country does not need more tax laws to increase tax revenues; it needs more Filipinos to pay their taxes.

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For Smart Communications marketing head Anastacio Martirez, breakfast is his time for his school-aged kids. He brings them to school in his high-end European car and then (given the horrendous traffic gridlock from Ayala Alabang to Makati after seven in the morning,) leisurely makes it to his office before lunch.

To make up for lost time, Boy Martinez stays until close to midnight during the working week. Immediate boss, Smart president Napoleon Nazareno, and boss of all bosses, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. president Manuel Pangilinan, don’t seem to mind. After all, they are similarly work-inclined.

And they have the numbers to prove it – 9.5 million cell phone subscribers, all digital (mind you).