X-rated banker

Former Finance Secretary Jose Isidro Camacho was paid P500,000 for endorsing a product of Pascual Laboratories. The amount is equivalent to close to a year’s pay of Lito Camacho at the DOF.

Talk is, Mr. Camacho was not the first choice though. You see, Bangko Sentral Governor Rafael Buenaventura turned down the offer.

* * *

Remember that recently circulated amateur sex VCD reminiscent of the one starring hotel heiress Paris Hilton?

Well, there’s talk the, uh, local female lead now works at the Ayala head office of a commercial bank. Just to give cineastes and plain fans an easier time, zero in on those wearing glasses for that banker look.

* * *

Not many know that Internal Revenue Commissioner Guillermo Parayno Jr. remains in the list of officers of the Lina Group of Companies. Fact is, his office remains as he left it and is empty (but regularly cleaned).

Prior to rejoining government, Willy Parayno was vice-chairman and chief operating officer to Bert Lina, one of whose companies is the Philippine partner of Federal Express.

* * *

Her name is not in the staff box but Barbara Locsin is now the chief operating officer – a newly created position – of BusinessWorld Publishing Corp. The daughter of publisher/editor Leticia Locsin, Ms. Locsin has had experience as an exporter of Christmas décor to high-end stores such as Harrods.

By the way, BusinessWorld is coming up with a weekly magazine called, naturally, BusinessWorld magazine, in time for the first death anniversary of founder Raul Locsin on May 24. Initially, the magazine’s pool of writers are alumni of BW and its predecessors, Business Day.

* * *

Government Service Insurance System is expected to launch a tri-media advertising campaign around the message, "GSIS cares", next week.

GSIS president and general manager Winston Garcia stopped all placements effective end-March because he felt there was no cohesive message being sent out to the public, only information about different projects that do not add up to a better image of the pension fund.

Behind the new campaign are at least two issues that Mr. Garcia feels strongly about:

• Ensure that each GSIS member gets the benefits he/she is entitled to – this means a member who has been paying his/her GSIS dues for 10 years will no longer get the same privileges as a member who has been remitting for 35 years. This means, the heirs of a dead GSIS member can no longer collect the benefits of the "living." This means a member will no longer be granted a new loan if he/she has not paid off the old one.

• Ensure that GSIS is viable and earns from its investments. This means the pension fund will improve its pathetic collection rate of 67.5 percent. This means the pension fund will no longer agree to earn three percent on its Land Bank of the Philippine Deposits (which has dropped from a P10-billion maintaining balance of P1 billion).