Hi-yo Silver away, Part II

What should have been another tranquil Saturday morning in Makati’s tony Urdaneta Village was suddenly marred by the presence of police, media, and village security. According to our village Spy-Ring, the police were reportedly called in due to an asset dispute between Ricardo Silverio Sr. and Ricky Silverio Jr. According to sources, Ricky Jr. was armed with a court order stating that the Urdaneta Village house should be in the custody of his mother, not Ricardo Sr. and his wife, Bulacan Rep. Lorna Silverio. Ricardo Sr. reportedly called on a SWAT team to disarm Jr.’s guards. As far as witnesses recall, it was the first time such an incident happened in the village. Insiders reported that Sr.’s lawyers are the ones who will make a lot of money if the dispute continues, so they have been egging the older man on to take the litigation route. Naturally, the lawyers want to cart most of the silver away. In reality, insiders disclosed that father and son just want to settle amicably and move on.

Unrelenting Marina administrator

Shipping industry Ear-Spies reported that new Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) Administrator Vicente Suazo is making waves at the government agency – to the utter annoyance of unscrupulous operators out to make a fast buck. While it has reportedly been common practice among past administrations to agree to extend permits to ships ostensibly to accommodate the seasonal onrush of passengers despite glaring deficiencies on safety and operational aspects of these ships, Suazo has been unrelenting in the imposition of safety rules and regulations. There have been plenty of maritime accidents in the past, especially during the holiday rush because ship operators have been more concerned with filling their vessels – some of which can be more aptly described as floating coffins – rather than ensuring the safety of passengers. Late last month, Suazo issued a cease-and-desist order on one ship for disregarding its dry docking schedule. Officials frantically burned the wires in a desperate attempt to convince Suazo to reconsider, giving the lame excuse that the company had already sold tickets. The Marina chief also didn’t budge in the CDO he issued to another vessel after passengers personally complained of repeated breakdowns while at sea. Apparently, Suazo does not mind being unpopular as long as he knows that what he is doing is right and safe for the sea-riding public. People still remember the disasters and tragedies that could have been avoided if shipping companies and vessel operators had been more concerned with the safety of passengers, concerned industry observers noted.

Labor welcomes BDO’s offer for EPCI’s SSS stake

The moderate Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) has welcomed the offer of Banco de Oro Universal Bank (BDO) to acquire for P56.80 per share all of the common stock of Equitable PCI Bank Inc (EPCI) that BDO does not yet own, including the 187.85 million shares held by the Social Security System. TUCP secretary general and former Senator Ernesto Herrera lauded the offer, saying the proposed BDO-EPCI share swap would be a significantly better offer than the previous P43.50 per share for the SSS stocks. Herrera was reacting to BDO’s new offer to totally buy out all the other EPCI shareholders through a share swap with P43.1 billion. BDO offered to exchange each share of EPCI with 1.6 shares of BDO, which implies a value of P56.80 per EPCI share based on the P35.50 closing price of each BDO share last Friday. Banco de Oro already controls almost 50 percent of EPCI’s common stock, after it acquired the Go family’s 24.7-percent stake for P10.2 billion.

Post office overcharge

Judging from the reports received by Spybiz, it seems the Christmas spirit wasn’t shared by vultures at a certain post office branch in the metropolis. Relatives of OFWs complained that employees were charging exorbitant fees for the "padalas." One example is an MP3 sent by this OFW to her nephew who couldn’t afford to buy one, paying $22 for mailing charges. To her shock, she was told that the nephew had to borrow money so he could pay the P2,500 "Customs fee" charged by the post office employees, who refused to release the item unless the "fee" was paid. Worse, those vultures reportedly did not even issue a receipt. One other recipient of a "padala" opted to leave the pair of imported shoes sent him, because the fee was even more expensive than the cost of the item. It’s depraved Scrooges like these who destroy the trust of the people and ruin the Holiday spirit.

Spy tidbiz: Campaign time at AIM?

It looks like open campaign season started early at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) for the soon-to-be-vacated presidency judging from the text messages that have been circulating within the AIM circles. One such text message circulating as early as last month went: Save AIM! Make AIM global and Asian, not only local! Dr. Federico M. Macaranas for President! Please pass 2 our AIM friends, alumni, faculty. Thnx. As they say, it doesn’t hurt to get a headstart, especially when it comes to politics.

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