Bored and with lots of pocket money

Understandably, the name of John Gokongwei Jr. has been popping up these days every time there’s talk that a company is in play.

For one, Mr. John is kind of bored right now, a year or two after handing over the businesses under JG Summit Corp. to his only son, Lance Gokongwei, who reports to his uncle and chairman, James Go.

For another, Mr. Gokongwei has lots of pocket money. He still has access to the war chest raised in his failed bid to buy the stake for Hong Kong-based First Pacific Holdings in Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.

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Antonio Abacan Jr. is set to retire next year as president of Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co.

Not that Tony Abacan is expected to disassociate himself from the bank. He will continue to mentor vice-chairman Arthur Ty. He is also expected to be nominated to the board, a job that would enable him to play more street basketball.

The last time he played basketball, Mr. Abacan was injured, which landed him in the hospital for a couple of days. When he reported back for work, his chairman George S.K. Ty gifted him with a set of golf clubs.

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Did you know 1: Subic Yacht Club general manager Jose Mari Vargas has opened its doors to non-members until November 2005. This means non-members can use all club facilities, including the rooms (all of which have jacuzzi tubs) and restaurant outlets.

The idea here is to maximize the use of club facilities during the time of year when club members are not using them. And hey, these non-members might like their stay so much that they might just buy a share from an existing member.

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Did you know 2: The reopening of the Greenbelt-3 food court has been postponed again from next month to September.

Originally, the renovation of this Ayala Land, Inc. project should have been completed by July 2005.

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Did you know 3: The first product offering of Splash Pharmaceuticals is flavored virgin coconut oil. The decision was made by chairman Rolando Hortaleza, after a survey showed that the horrible taste of VCO was a big turnoff to customers.

At any rate, flavors used such as strawberry are Filipino favorites.

Rolan Hortaleza is the first to admit that his VCO, without the additional flavoring, is no different from those sold by other companies. What Splash is, however, doing that is different is documenting the product’s research and development, preparatory to playing with the big boys in the highly lucrative health markets of the United States and Europe two to three years ago (read: getting approval from the US Food and Drug Administration).