Sophisticated pyramiding

By next month, the cost per kilo of feeding a pig or chicken would be higher than the cost per kilo of feeding a Filipino.

Here’s why. On the one hand, the price of barely edible rice is expected to remain steady at between P12 and P14. On the other hand, the price of feeds – a mixture of stuff including corn meal – is expected to hit between P18 and P20 a kilo because whatever supply there will be in June will be significantly less than demand.

You see, traders began milling their corn stock in the first quarter as the price of corn dropped to P8 on the news that the Department of Agriculture would be importing corn meal to bring down the cost of pork and chicken.

Well, the first and only shipment so far didn’t make it to the Philippine shores. When show-me-your-money time came, there was nothing to flash and the shipment was diverted to China.

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Did you hear 1: There’s talk that Asian Hospital is again aggressively looking for a strategic investor. One of those approached is in the cash-rich retail trade.

The best thing going for the hospital is its location – it’s the only decent tertiary hospital in southern Metro Manila. The worst thing going for the hospital is its huge debt burden, the result of a decision made in its inception to buy everything from chairs to equipment from abroad.

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Did you hear 2: Some investors of stockbrokerage firm, Asian Capital Equities, Inc., have banded together to make sure that president Francisco Borromeo doesn’t skip the country.

Why, they text each other – and the Securities and Exchange Commission, just in case chairman Lilia Bautista is interested on "sightings" of Frank Borromeo as far as Cebu and, for that matter, of his dermatologist-wife (on the assumption that the wife, the daughter of retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Marcelo Fernan, would eventually lead them to his whereabouts).

These investors have lost money because the shares they hold in listed companies have been sold by ACE without their consent. Worse, ACE has not remitted the money from the sale of such shares.

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Trade Secretary Cesar Purisima has linked up with Direct Selling Association of the Philippines chairman Josefino Santos in going after pyramiding firms, which charge members joining fees.

These days, the pyramiding schemes are getting really sophisticated. For example, the newer ones now have products to sell – anything from commemorative coins to website development – just like DSAP members, all of which are legitimate multi-network marketers.

In the case of legitimate direct sellers like Avon Phils. or Tupperware Phils. their products end up as value-added purchases because there are no advertising costs and distribution expenses that are passed on to consumers.

By the way, here’s another dead giveaway for a pyramiding scheme – the emphasis is on making money from recruiting rather than from pushing products.