Leche con beer

Asia Brewery recently signed up a deal with Spain’s Grupo Leche Pascual in Madrid for a joint venture to distribute the Spanish company’s yogurt products in the Philippines. According to Philippine Ambassador to Spain Carlos Salinas, Asia Brewery and Grupo Leche’s memorandum of agreement further attests to the “longstanding affinity and relationship between Spain and the Philippines, which hopefully will serve as a platform to inspire many more ventures to follow in their footsteps.”

The joint venture (expected to be finalized within the next six months) eyes the local manufacture of Leche Pascual products in the long term – which will mean more jobs for Filipinos eventually. Sources say the deal signifies the strategic vision of Grupo Leche Pascual in making the Philippines its base for growth and expansion throughout Southeast Asia. What a combination – beer with milk!

What’s cooking with Joe de V?

Former Speaker “Joe” de V may have temporarily retired from politics, but that hasn’t stopped him from cooking up... pasta dishes, that is. Dubbed as the “Centennial Speaker” in 2007 during the Centennial of the House of Representatives, the ex-presidentiable has had a colorful career as diplomat, businessman, peace maker, economic counselor etc., rubbing elbows with kings and presidents. But now, he seems very much content to stay at home (although he travels every now and then) and be a house husband to his congresswoman-wife, Pangasinan 4th District Representative Manay Gina.

Joe de V showed his cooking prowess at a lunch for a few friends at his Forbes Park home, donning a colorful apron and looking as comfortable in the kitchen as he did in the august halls of Congress. Cooking is not really new with JDV, having hosted a Chinese New Year dinner for former president Joseph Estrada (his rival during the 1998 elections) with Dra. Loi, then Makati Mayor and now vice president Jojo Binay along with several senators and other political leaders in 2008. JDV disclosed that he may one day set up his own restaurant, and offer his various specialties like his Dagupan steamed Chinese-style milk fish fresh from his Pangasinan bangus farm and Joe’s special “Pasta de Venecia.”

Video-on-the-go

Surveys confirm that Filipinos are the world’s top Internet video watchers, posting a 98.1 percentage average of online viewers according to a survey conducted by Universal McCann, with China coming second at 89.1 percent followed by Spain at 84.1 percent. No doubt the encouraging figures spurred ThumbMOB Philippines – a developer of Southeast-Asian themed apps and games – to bring in Vuclip, said to be the world’s largest independent mobile video service. Vuclip delivers over 12 million videos to viewers in more than 200 countries, translating to a total of 360 million videos watched globally every month. We were told that more than 350,000 Filipinos are already using Vuclip to watch videos on their mobile phones – and the launch will no doubt satisfy the huge appetite of Pinoys for videos instantaneously because all they need is a Vuclip data plan and an Internet-capable phone.

Vuclip’s transcoding technology matches video to any phone, on the fly, without requiring any downloads, and the service is available practically for all phones that can surf the mobile Internet whether they are smart or regular phones. Higher end phones can also experience progressive streaming and HD-quality videos. ThumbMOB founder and CEO Patricia Mulles noted that videos go viral on Vuclip, with users finding it easy to forward or share clips to friends via social networking sites or even directly through SMS – describing it as the “network effect at play.”

Spy Bits rumor mill

• Spy Bits informants revealed that the previously unnamed businessman scheduled to appear before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing today is Archie Po, owner of Lionair, the exclusive Philippine distributor of Robinson helicopters. Archie approached Senator Jinggoy Estrada who told Spy Bits this will be the biggest “bombshell” yet in the Senate hearings today.

• A big-time contractor who seems to be in deep financial straits is reportedly mortgaging all his moving assets such as his expensive cars and a helicopter in a desperate bid to get out of a financial mess he suddenly found himself in.

• Unconfirmed reports reached Spy Bits that Congressman Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao blew as much as P90 million in one night at a baccarat table in Resorts World near the NAIA 3. That’s a lot of “hard knocks” money going down the drain. Somebody should try to “knock” some sense into the world champ’s head that money doesn’t grow on trees.

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