Business icon Samuel Curtis Johnson, 76

The business world will surely miss Samuel Curtis Johnson, chairman emeritus of S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc. Sam, as he was fondly called, passed away last month in his Racine, Wisconsin home. Sam was not only a savvy businessman, he was also a philanthropist and environmentalist. He became chairman of S. C. Johnson in 1967, and turned a $171-million wax company into a multi-billion dollar empire, making the business grow 40 times over. His business strategy was simple: "New products, new geographies, and every few years, new acquisitions." As Sam’s companies and profits grew, so did his philanthropic efforts, apportioning five percent to various institutions devoted to the environment, education and the arts. While he was chairman, scholarship endowments totaled more than $200 million, benefiting national and global organizations such as the Smithsonian, The Prairie School, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthplace Museum, Next Generation Now, among many others. Sam was a leader and a visionary, but above all, he was a family man first. In today’s world of business, S.C. Johnson remains a wholly owned family business.

The ‘Good Romulo’ will stay in government

Contrary to circulating rumors that Executive Secretary Bert Romulo is soon retiring from government, Philippine STAR Publisher Max Soliven confirmed it directly from Executive Secretary Bert Romulo himself that he plans to stay in his post and that he is as healthy as ever. Rumors of Bert Romulo’s resignation apparently came from his cousin Robert’s cohorts whose ambition is to take over Bert’s post. Bert is well known as the "Good Romulo" – being a former Senator and now executive secretary of PGMA. SpyBiz is happy that the "good Romulo" will continue on as Executive Secretary.

Illegal aliens threatening RP & US national securities

Ear-spy Sysyphus just stumbled upon a high-flying anomaly at the NAIA 1, NAIA 2, and at Mactan International Airport while drinking with a ranking official of the Bureau of Immigration. In his stupor, the official bragged of his lucrative racket without realizing that he is threatening the national security of the country and its allies. For P140,000 per head, he allows the illegal entry of Pakistani and Indian nationals at either Mactan or NAIA 1. If the US knew about this security breach, there would be a permanent advisory on RP, which allows the entry of Yakuza members at NAIA 1 and 2 for ¥300,000 per head. More next week.

Old dogs at the GSIS

Our Ilocano Eye-spy did a little peeking and discovered that a GSIS branch somewhere in Isabela is wasting money in efforts to introduce modern technology into its operations. While GSIS head Winston Garcia has been working very hard to get the agency out of the Dark Ages, the old doggies in this branch have been dragging their tails on computerization. They were even given hands-on tutorials on the use of computers, but they’re just too old, too lazy, or too set in their ways to ever learn new things. These doggies keep calling the information technology officer for every little problem – like one that only requires pressing the "Esc" key. The curious thing is that these doggies are so adept at playing computer games like Solitaire, Freecell, or Texttwist. From the way things look, things will remain backward in this branch. There’s no assurance that service levels will be raised because old dogs just won’t learn new tricks.

Spy tidbiz: A fairy’s tale

Gossip columnist Victor Cachupoy spun the fairytale that the combined daily circulation of the No. 2 and No. 3 broadsheets equals the total daily circulation of the supposed industry leader. It is so obvious that Cachupoy is attempting to get back into the good graces of the owners of the newspaper he works for. He has been coming out with all sorts of libelous and erroneous items that tons of libel suits have been thrown at him. This is another one of the fairy tales coming from this fairy.

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