The Eastern way

Did you know 1: Philippine butterfly pupa are exported at a minimum price of $1 a unit.

As everybody knows, the lifecycle of a butterfly from birth to death is about a month. The butterfly itself lives only between seven and 10 days after procreation – its primary function/value until entrepreneurs started to sell butterflies as an alternative to doves during weddings and debuts.

A minimum order of 50 butterflies costs close to P2,000.

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Did you know 2: An Australian company is pumping in a couple of million dollars in an oil exploration project in Palawan.

With the price of oil going up (and with no sign that prices will be going down in the near future), the cost of digging deeper to find oil has again become viable. Hey, the industry talk is the country will be able to strike oil by the end of 2007.

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Did you know 3: St. Luke’s Hospital medical director Joven Cuanang has just set up an integrative medicine unit, which basically offers alternatives such as acupuncture to lost-cause patients.

The hospital still cures patients the Western way. If that doesn’t work, the hospital now offers possible cures the Eastern way. The logic here is what does the patient have to lose?

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Sigh. The Bangko Sentral has yet to resolve an issue raised by the Commission on Audit regarding the use of private sector money to construct within the BSP printing complex in Quezon City.

Basically, Bangko Sentral’s cash management where armored cars of banks withdrawing and depositing money from the BSP – will be transferred from BSP’s head office in Manila to the less congested BSP printing complex.

Based on its timetable, the new cash management should have been completed before Amando Tetangco, Jr. was sworn in as governor in July and certainly before the birthday early this month of Say Tetangco’s predecessor Rafael Buenaventura.

Paeng Buenaventura has booked an Aug. 16 flight from the West Coast and should be in town this Thursday.

While in the United States, Mr. Buenaventura received a nice thank you letter dated July 4 from President Macapagal-Arroyo. The President cited Mr. Buenaventura’s achievements as governor such as "initiative to strengthen the banking sector, deepen the capital market, enhance support for the microfinance programs, and rein in inflation. We are extremely proud that your significant role in the country’s economic management has been recognized not only in the Philippines but by the international financial community as well. You have been rated as one of the world’s best central bankers, getting an A rating, and becoming one of only four central bank chiefs in 2002 to merit that distinction."

Mr. Buenaventura has always said that he would want to be known as the governor who pushed for greater accountability and transparency among the boards and management of commercial banks to the many publics they serve. He started the ball rolling by requiring all bank chairmen and president/chief executive officers to attend a seminar on corporate governance conducted by former Finance Secretary and founder of the Institute of Corporate Directors Jesus Estanislao.