Dirty finger

Oh dear. Not being included in the list of potential lot buyers of Ayala Land Inc.’s The Pinnacle in Quezon City can be so humiliating for the merely rich. You see, the Quezon City development is being offered only to the super rich.

There are only 50 names in the first list approved by marketing head Tristan de la Rosa, who has profiled this niche market as placing great value on exclusivity, privacy, anonymity, and security. Being sold are nine huge lots of 800 plus square meters and upwards – that’s the entire project.

Yes, there’s a second list.

* * *

Did you know 1: ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. president Freddy Garcia has been given a job extension until the end of the year. In part, Mr. Garcia’s job is the highly unpopular one of trimming the fat (without touching the muscle).

ABS-CBN, which operates Channel 2 as its core business, generated gross revenues of about P10 billion last year but netted only P166 million. Okay, so it wrote off P270 million when it closed down some non-performing businesses.

* * *

Did you know 2: When visiting banks, Bangko Sentral Governor Rafael Buenaventura does run a casual finger on cabinet tops to check for dust.

Of course, he doesn’t say anything to his hosts but he does take out his handkerchief to wipe his dirty finger.

* * *

Did you know 3: Alfonso Yuchengco III has shed off 10 years from his face since resigning as vice-chairman and chief executive officer of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.

That Tito Yuchengco now looks his age could be traced in part to his wife, who is fun-loving to his staid "geekness."

There’s also talk that Mr. Yuchengco might have already gotten part of his inheritance from his father, RCBC majority stockholder Alfonso Yuchengco.

* * *

Bank notes 1: Technically, Arthur Ty is vice-chairman of Philippine Savings Bank. In practice, however, Mr. Ty handles the marketing effort (think credit cards and consumer loans) of the Metrobank group, which, of course, includes Metropolitan Bank and Trust. Co.

Both Metrobank and PSBank have their own corporate banking and consumer banking groups.

PSBank chairman is former Finance Secretary Jose Pardo.

* * *

Bank notes 2: Because they both came from Asian Banking Corp., it is assumed that Philippine National Bank chairman Francisco Dizon recruited Asterio Favis as treasury head. Actually, the guy who did the wooing was president Lorenzo Tan.

At one time, Paquito Dizon was president and chief executive officer of Asian Bank and Boy Favis headed treasury operations.