Not aged after all

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. president and chief executive officer Manuel Pangilinan still has to decide whether or not to continue its corporate support of ABS-CBN Foundation Inc.’s Bantay Bata 163 program.

You see, PLDT has been helping out the program headed by Cristina Monzon-Palma by not charging a centavo for all those hotlines used to report cases of child abuse.

Then again, Bantay Bata 163 has access to Bayan Telecommunications Inc., which is majority controlled by the family of ABS-CBN Foundation managing director Regina Lopez.

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Energy Secretary Vicente Perez Jr. is said to be in hot water with President Macapagal-Arroyo.

Never mind that Vince Perez was the puzzled recipient of a bouquet of roses from the President (read: the last three government officials who received, uh, misdirected letters or gifts from the Palace were replaced or asked to resign).

Never mind that Mr. Perez was bumped off from the official entourage during the President’s most recent trip abroad.

Mr. Perez is in trouble because the Visayas – and that includes the very important Metro Cebu – is expected to experience a power shortage by next year; Mindanao in 2005; and Luzon in 2008.

And yet, there are no new power plants, whether by local or foreign investors, being put up to avert this impending darkness.

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Bank notes 1: Development Bank of the Philippines president and chief executive officer Simon Paterno recently turned movie fan when he used his cellphone to take a shot of himself with Lipa City Mayor Vilma Santos-Recto.

Fact was, Mon Paterno was all smiles even when "The Star for All Seasons" predictably arrived late for the signing of a P16-million loan extended by DBP to computerize the payment of real estate taxes in Lipa.

Mr. Paterno’s first reaction on seeing Ms. Santos-Recto? "She’s not aged after all."

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Bank notes 2: United Coconut Planters Bank president and chief executive officer Jose Querubin didn’t preside over last Friday’s monthly board meeting after all. His former boss at SolidBank, Deogracias Vistan, was elected chairman.

Everything has been going roses for Sonny Vistan, whose name has been cropping up as a possible contender for the best job of all for any banker – that of Bangko Sentral governor when Rafael Buenaventura finishes his six-year term in mid-2005.

At UCPB, Mr. Vistan is expected to preside over a board that not only knows its banking but also its responsibilities as representative-owners of the bank’s stakeholders.

Basically, that means crafting the bank’s direction over at least the next five years, with fairness and transparency as anchors.

Five years is also the tenure of Jojo Querubin’s management contract.

The idea here is to make UCPB profitable enough within five years so that government – through the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (which extended P20 billion in long-term financial assistance) and the Presidential Commission on Good Government (which represents the coconut farmers) – can get a good buying price.