Harassment of the worst kind

There’s talk that Employers Confederation of the Philippines president Donald Dee is being offered a Cabinet-level position. As everybody knows, Mr. Dee has had dealings with President Macapagal-Arroyo since her stint as executive director of the Garments and Textile Export Board.

No, the position being offered is not the Department of Trade and Industry, which is currently headed by Cesar Purisima.

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One of the beneficiaries of OFW dollars are appliance manufacturers.

You see, there is now less seasonality in the buying of TVs and refrigerators, appliances which normally crest during the Christmas season.

These days, if there are weeks when appliance sales are down, the blame squarely rests on hedging OFW families who are hoping they could get more pesos for their dollars if they wait just a couple more days.

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Bank notes 1: The sexual harassment case of an officer in a government financial institution has reached a stage where the officer is now quietly sounding off another GFI to move to.

The officer is being charged with harassing and molesting male subordinates, who never seem to stay very long at their jobs despite the attractive compensation package.

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Bank notes 2: That recently opened mini-forest right beside the Security Plant Complex – the one that prints the country’s money and its passports was made possible through a close to P4-million grant by the Bangko Sentral.

By the way, the one-hectare mini-forest, which used to be a nursery of sorts of the National Ecology Center, is open to the public.

For those who might want to get to the SPC uninvited through the, uh, side door, there is (unfortunately for these people) a no man’s land or adequate easement that separates the mini-forest and the SPC.

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Here’s the answer of Philippine Stock Exchange president Cayetano Paderanga Jr. dated June 4, 2004 to the May 30, 2004 letter written by PSE directors Vivian Yuchengco, Ismael Cruz, and Francisco Villaroman to PNOC Development & Management Corp. chairman Thelmo Cunanan.

"I fully informed the PDMC board on Dec. 10, 2003 that I had been elected president of the Philippine Stock Exchange effective Jan. 1, 2004 – more than two weeks before I took office. In my letter to the chairman and members of the board, I said that I would step down as soon as my replacement was qualified and elected. When this issue was raised (by Ms. Yuchengco and Messrs. Cruz and Villaroman), I responded that I had been merely serving as holdover, preparatory to handing it over to my successor.

"I have since reviewed the records of Dec. 10 and succeeding meetings and have verified that I have carried out what was required for me to do."

In short, Dondon Paderanga continues to hold his concurrent job at PDMC and is paid accordingly for services rendered until such time as the PDMC board chaired by Mr. Cunanan finds his replacement.