An ill-starred house

Had he been told ahead of time, Ortigas & Co. Ltd. Partnership chief operating officer Rex Drillon would have been only too happy to accompany Hollywood actress Tia Carrere, who went shopping during the weekend for South Sea pearls at Shoppesville in the Greenhills Commercial Center.

Ms. Carrere ended up with a black and white pearl set — that includes bracelet and a pair of earrings – for a steal of $2,500, largely because the seller hoped to see the actress in a future photo wearing her Philippine-made pearls.

The appraised value of the pearl set is about $17,000.

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Former Social Security System administrator Carlos Arellano has purchased a seat at the Philippine Stock Exchange for P11.9 million.

It’s not exactly clear though whether Chuckie Arellano paid in cash – well, he does have a walk-in vault in his home – or in check.

Here’s the problem though. Some PSE members don’t want him around. And that could result in Mr. Arellano asking back his money from the seller, a Malaysian stockbrokerage firm.

At close to P12 million, Mr. Arellano’s purchase is on the high end of the current going price for a PSE seat. The low end is a little over P8 million, which is how much Banque Nationale Paribas has sold its seat.

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To settle an P800-million debt (to an individual), former Equitable PCI Bank chairman George Go transferred the ownership of his house in Forbes Park and, more recently, his shares in Global Equities, Inc.

One of the first things the new majority owner of GEI has done is to ask for the resignation of Nora Bitong as president.

That’s strike two for the house in Forbes Park, which is getting to be known in the neighborhood as an unlucky house, in the same way that this very beautiful woman who moves among Metro Manila’s local cafe society is said, to quote William Shakespeare, to be ill-starred and brings bad luck and/or death to the rich and powerful men she has had relationships with.

Before Mr. Go, that house was owned by a very successful businesswoman who eventually declared bankruptcy.

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Philippine Stock Exchange chairman Alicia Morales-Arroyo has started head hunting for someone to succeed PSE president Ernest Leung when his two-year management contract ends.

It was Mr. Leung who asked for a two-rather than the usual three-year contract.

Mr. Leung, who is in his mid-60s, wants time to spend in such sports as white water rafting and scuba diving.

Then again, Mr. Leung has never been able to say no when the call to serve the country (again) is raised. He agreed to join the Development Bank of the Philippines as chairman after retiring from the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. And he joined PSE shortly after this stint at DBP.

Mr. Leung has a reputation for being tight with money or barat. His thinking is, it’s other people‘s money so he has to be very careful how he spends it. And yes, he will go through what has been spent line by line to make sure that everything is covered by receipts and authorized.