Hail to the Chef!

Our Washington-based Eye-Spy reported that during the visit of Prince Charles and Camilla – their first after tying the knot in April – President and Mrs. George Bush gave a rare black tie dinner for the visiting royal couple. George Jr. hates black tie dinners because he finds them too stiff and formal. He prefers the informal affairs in his ranch where he can wear his cowboy boots and hat. Our Eye-Spy informed us that the dinner was well attended by Washington’s Top 400. But one of the main highlights of the affair was the fantastic menu. From the soup to the salad, to the aperitif to the main course, everything was impressively done that it prompted Prince Charles and his Lady to call on Filipina Cristeta Comerford, on her first official culinary performance as Executive Chef. Prince Charles, in his stiff British accent told her: "My compliments to the chef!"

Bonuses for PLDT officers

During the board meeting of PLDT the other day, Manny Pangilinan was in a happy mood because of the good news that expected revenues will hit P32 billion by the end of this year. Looks like MVP is feeling generous and will most likely give away big, fat bonuses to key executive officers. PLDT and Smart have been really aggressive in their marketing and advertising campaigns. And even if business is predicted to slow down next year, they still expect to increase their budgets for advertising and will launch a more aggressive campaign to get an even bigger market share. Smart already has the lion’s share in the wireless communication sector with more than 20 million subscribers.

Overcharging airport taxi drivers

Airport authorities had better look into numerous complaints about overcharging airport taxi drivers. Foreigners who frequently visit the country for business purposes have been noticing the unprecedented increase in taxi charges from P350 to P520 from the airport to the Malate area. While there are DOT-accredited taxis available for hire at the arrival area, there have been reports of abusive drivers still demanding additional amounts as "tips" because according to them, they do not get anything from the amount paid by the passenger at the company booth in the arrival area. NAIA and DOT better do something about these complaints to avoid turning off visitors to the country, especially now that the Holiday Season is coming.

Spy tidbiz: Not really Pinoy?

While interest for the reality show Pinoy Big Brother continues to be high, email messages won’t stop circulating that the show’s theme song Pinoy Ako performed by the band Orange and Lemons is not exactly a Pinoy original. Apparently, the song curiously sounds the same as Chandeliers, a song written by an obscure British band called Care. Chandeliers was one of the tracks in an album called Diamonds and Emeralds released in 1997, which was more like a collection of the ill-fated group’s singles. To hear for yourselves and compare the two songs, log on to http://pinoy.rickey.org/wp-content/video/pinoy-big-brother-theme.mp3 and http://pinoy.rickey.org/wp-content/video/the-care-chandeliers%20-pinoy-big-brother.mp3.

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