Loads of money to spend

Sign of the times 1: Some members of the world’s oldest profession are now branching into home (and, even better, office) service to meet expenses for school, which opens next week.

The price ends up cheaper for the, uh, buyer because he doesn’t have to feed the seller for services rendered.

* * *

Sign of times 2: As a quick indicator of the state of the country’s economy, beer sales in Southern Luzon or among coconut farmers remain robust.

Copra prices remain high at between P22 and P24 a kilo, significantly up from the better-to-forget P2 per kilo rates of previous years.

* * *

Sign of times 3: The commercial center right inside the Batangas port area that is being constructed by the provincial government is about 80 percent completed.

The center, which is right beside a proposed P200 million food terminal, will have a three- or four-storey mall, which will be bid out to a mall development company.

* * *

Sign of the times 4: The first of at least three cable cars that connect Nagcarlan, Laguna to the cabbage farmers in Mt. Banahaw is expected to be operational by August. The two-kilometers-long line works like a bus with predetermined stops to collect the produce.

Right now, the cost of using horses to bring the farm produce to the nearest buying station – not to mention the "bruises" the vegetables end up with during the trek is P2 per kilo. By using the cable system, the cost drops down to 37 centavos per kilo.

* * *

Rustan’s Supercenters, Inc. has an enviable problem – loads of money to spend.

A month after its fourth Shopwise outlet inside the Araneta Commercial Center – the hypermart is said to be drawing in between 20,000 and 25,000 people a day compared to 27,000 generated by SM across the street. The company is already scouting around for a fifth location within Metro Manila to open by the end of the year.

You see, Rustan’s Supercenters has gotten a P650 million investment from AIG, which could go up to P1 billion, should the need arise. The investment was not made through The Philippine-American Life and General Insurance Co., which is headed by Jose Cuisia Jr., but through AIG-Asia, whose investment decisions are made by former Development Bank of the Philippines chairman and chief executive officer Cesar Zalamea.

The chief workhorse of Rustan’s Supercenters is executive vice-president and chief operating officer Bienvenido Tantoco III, who has been reelected early this year as president of the Philippine Retailers Association.

Last year, Rustan’s Supercenters contributed close to P4 billion to the Rustan’s Group combined revenues of P20 billion. Last year, the company also broke even, ahead of the regional breakeven average of six years.