$100-M ‘Silver Fortune’

Spybiz Ear-spies revealed that Ricky Silverio Jr. is pursuing the cases he filed against his father, San Rafael, Bulacan Mayor Ricardo Silverio Sr. to recover his inheritance. It can be recalled that early this year, there was a commotion when Ricky Jr. decided to go back to the Urdaneta Village ancestral home of the Silverios. Ear-spies reported that the long running feud between father and son will most likely continue because Ricky Jr. claims that most of the Silverio assets is part of his inheritance, but the Mayor had already transferred them to his second wife, Bulacan 3rd District Rep. Lorna Cillan. Ricky had been insisting that the ancestral home is legally owned by Pilipinas Development Corp., of which he is a majority stockholder. The ‘Silver Fortune’ is considerably smaller now compared to what it was during Ricardo Sr.’s heydays as the Toyota king, but the amount, estimated at $100 million, is certainly worth more than 30 pieces of silver and definitely nothing to sneeze at.

Smart and on top

Rumors recently floated about Smart’s top honcho Polly Nazareno having suffered a stroke and being in critical condition. Spybiz spoke with Polly Nazareno and was told that the executive was playing golf when he had a mild case of ischemia (a condition where there is an inadequate supply of blood to a certain part of the body). What’s interesting is how a flurry of nasty text messages kept circulating, painting Nazareno’s condition to be far worse that it actually was. Contrary to the scuttlebutt, however, Smart’s main man is back, making sure that Smart stays on top of the telecoms pack.

Billion dollar baby

With Senator Manny Villar at the helm, Filipinos will have greater expectations in terms of the Senate’s output of pending vital economic legislative measures that would give the country a competitive advantage in the Asian region. This in turn would generate more revenue for the nation’s coffers and create new employment opportunities, especially in the tourism industry. A pending gold mine, which literally slept during the last Senate presidency, was the renewal of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.’s (Pagcor) franchise. Already passed in Congress a couple of years back, the franchise renewal is the linchpin for Pagcor chairman Efraim Genuino’s vision of a Bagong Nayon Pilipino-Entertainment City Manila – a massive, fully-integrated entertainment and leisure complex offering wholesome fun and excitement for people of all ages while reflecting the best of the natural charm, vibrant culture and warm hospitality of Filipinos. Pagcor communications honcho Dodie King revealed that foreign investors are queuing to invest in this billion dollar baby and are just waiting for the franchise renewal. The new Senate president, who’s an advocate of business, particularly construction, knows that the ‘Pagcor City’ has the potential to boost the moribund construction industry and generate five million in direct employment. Upon completion, the Pagcor project is expected to generate $7 billion in direct tourist receipts and $10 billion in gross domestic product by 2010. An estimated P135 billion will be remitted to the National Treasury while the BIR is projected to collect some P15.4 billion from locator’s taxes over a 10-year period.

Spy tidbiz: The Philippine STAR’s big bash

The biggest names in business and politics are expected to attend The Philippine STAR’s 20th anniversary party tomorrow at the Rizal Ballroom of the Makati Shangri-La. The "Who’s Who" have been invited, and many who believe they are part of the "Who’s Who" list are hoping to be invited, too. Everybody’s angling for an invite to this year’s biggest event that the organizing committee of The STAR is simply finding it so difficult to comply with the many requests because the ballroom does not have enough space to accommodate everyone.

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