Makati Business Club: A house divided

With stocks surging and even US-based investment bank Bear-Stearns saying the economy would climb faster this year, feisty businesswoman Vivian "Le Difference" Yuchengco is once again on the warpath, demanding that the Makati Business Club leadership stick to business and stay away from politics. Insiders told Spybiz that the former Philippine Stock Exchange president’s call for new and better leadership seems to be gaining ground, with more members expressing dissatisfaction at the way the club’s affairs are being run. Yuchengco has been demanding for the immediate release of a July 12, 2005 survey asking MBC members whether they still wanted to allow the Board to speak on behalf of members on matters of national significance. To date, the survey result has not been released. Worse, it has been kept a secret. It will be recalled that the division stemmed from a July 8 manifesto asking GMA to resign signed by lawyer Dick Romulo who sits as MBC chair with a few board members concurring, a move which Yuchengco’s group condemned because there was no proper consultation from the general membership. Yuchengco has also called for an independent audit of the Club’s finances, particularly the P12,500 annual membership fee collected from close to 1,000 members. The MBC has been wracked by division with Consumer Oil Price Watch (COWP) president Raul Concepcion resigning from the board and changing his stand. There are many others who are ready to voice their dissatisfaction with the MBC Board. The original vision of the late Don Enrique Zobel for the Makati Business Club was to unite businessmen with one stand. Now, the MBC is divided, and its fall inevitable.

Joey Con’s quest

While MBC’s big businessmen are tearing each other apart, billionaire Joey Concepcion III is doing his bit in encouraging small scale businessmen through his "Go Negosyo Micronegosyo Fair" on March 31 and April 1 at the Philippine Army Gym in Fort Bonifacio Joe Con III is putting his money where his mouth is, using his resources to make life better for many Filipinos. Joey says the fair is really for the small guys, and he has invited military wives to take part in the sessions and pick up some business ideas. This two-day event is expected to foster unity between the business and military sectors. It is open to the public, with an expected 5,000 attendees.

Heartless hospital

The Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2003 is supposed to support the elderly by providing 20-percent discount on various goods and services such as medical and dental procedures, including professional fees of attending doctors in hospitals. Spybiz received reports however that this 20-percent discount on doctors’ fees is not being strictly implemented even in government hospitals where so-called "consultants" practice their lucrative professions. One example is this hospital that is gaining notoriety for being heartless. Informants disclosed that the doctors’ fees are not included in the billing issued by the hospital accounting office. When patients ask why, they are given the excuse that the professional fee is a matter between the patient and the doctor. Once the hospital bill is settled, employees who man the clinics of these consultants contact the patient for payment of the professional fee. These smooth talkers would then convince the elderly patient that the doctor is already charging a small amount so there’s no need for a 20-percent senior citizen discount anymore. Of course, no official receipt will be issued, just an acknowledgment receipt to serve as proof of payment. One such doctor allegedly engaged in this unethical practice is reputed to be one of the best heart surgeons in the country, and his "collector" is his secretary who even has the nerve to sign the doctor’s name on the acknowledgment receipt. This hospital is truly heartless because it allows such malpractice to happen.

Spy tidbiz: Get into the groove

If a recent study from Rutgers University on Jamaican teenagers is to be believed, boys who got the groove are most likely to attract not only more women, but more desirable women. As it turns out, a male’s gyrations send messages of superiority to females. Using computer technology that duplicated the movements while removing any distinguishing marks of the 183 Jamaican subjects, teenagers were asked to choose which partner they preferred. Those with better dance moves were preferred as partners, the study concluded. Associate anthropology professor Lee Conk, a member of the Jamaican project group, said that better dancers are the ones with other characteristics associated with "high mate quality." Of course, Charles Darwin has long ago asserted that dance has a lot to do with mating rituals in the animal kingdom. The research team is now set to apply for two more grants to find out if the Jamaican findings on dance can be applied to other cultures.

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