Three-day millionaires

That Development Bank of the Philippines president and chief executive officer Reynaldo David, who has always loved women (in general) and dogs (in particular), has ended up as a doctor isn’t surprising.

The honorary Ph.D, which was given last week by Palawan State University, recognizes Rey David’s work as a development banker for the past six months.

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By next year, the MC Home Depot group of George Yang and Jose Chung will have opened an "auto mall" near the Pasig side of C-5.

The mall will house in one roof 80 different car models (as of last count) from different car manufacturers such as Toyota Motor Phils as well as from importers such as Scandanavian Motor.

Mind you, all the cars to be sold are brand new.

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Did you know 1: The going rate for banks to lend clients three-day funds (for such "show money" purposes as trying to get an American visa and meeting the capital requirements of government regulators) is at least five percent.

The money is deposited in the client’s account and a formal document is issued to that effect. The money cannot be withdrawn by the client and reverts back to the bank after three days–with interest, of course.

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Did you know 2: It takes five gallons of sap from the coconut tree to make a kilo of coconut sugar. That’s the recent experience of Elixir Pacific International Corp., which is run by Gil Obias.

The guys at Elixir are positioning coconut sugar as the organic and superior version of Splenda, the current sweetener of choice of people like Ayala Land Corp. chairman Fernando Zobel de Ayala who eat healthy.

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Did you know 3: A good number of the young people who regularly visit Boracay are there on business. They make or buy stuff that they can sell in Boracay at tourist prices while getting a tan.

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Ever Fresh Farms owner Eva Rose Pua, who describes herself as an "agri-preneur" or one who can wear a Rolex while managing a farm, is franchising her EDSA Shangri-la Mall organic restaurant cum grocery store concept called DeliFresh this year. Target locations are Alabang and Greenhills.

Ms. Pua, who has a huge free-range chicken farm in her home province of Isabela, expects to graduate this year as an internationally-accredited franchising executive. The first two Filipinos with that kind of accreditation are Philippine Franchise Association president Alegria Limjoco and Ateneo de Manila University professor Ricardo Mercado.