Biz Buzz: Insider nicknames
What’s in a nickname? A lot, apparently, if you’re dealing with or speaking of powerful, influential or—heaven forbid—notorious personalities.
Remember alleged “pork barrel scam” queen Janet Napoles? Sure, everyone calls her “Janet” or “Napoles,” but back then, one could easily tell when people knew her just a little more than the average Joe by how they addressed her. And those who really know her—just like one of the candidates running for president nowadays—would call her “Ma’am Jenny.”
The same thing can be observed at the Senate’s investigation on the $81-million money laundering scandal where it is easy to see who has the inside track on the intricate web of transactions and personalities involved from all sides.
Some nicknames like “Macel” (for Maria Celia, not Cecilia) are almost common knowledge, but some are spoken only among insiders.
First, there was Sen. Serge Osmeña addressing Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. president-on-leave Lorenzo Tan as “Yay.” The lawmaker clearly has deep roots (explaining his incisive queries) in the financial industry as very few people know Tan’s nickname and even fewer call him thus.
Then there’s the treasurer of money changer Philrem, Michael Bautista. “Michael” is common enough and one would be forgiven for calling him thus, but his close friends call him “Concon.”
Finally, there’s Philrem president Salud Bautista who is (depending on whom one asks) either a very entertaining figure on live television or someone one would love to hate for her seemingly casual demeanor. Everyone at the Senate calls her “Ms Bautista” or “Salud,” but people who deal with her, especially in the banking community, speak her nickname at a lower tone that conveys respect, awe and a tinge of amazement. And among these people, she’s known as “Sheba.”
But don’t hold your breath. We don’t expect any senators to start calling her “Sheba” on live TV anytime soon. Daxim L. Lucas
PPP risks
Businesses are always wary of risks in any administration change, especially when it comes to big-ticket public-private partnership deals.
But apparently, the bigger risk is a project not pushing through at all, especially if it’s a viable one.
That seems to be the fear of some in the running for the transportation department’s PPP auction for regional airports.
This involves the operations, maintenance and development contracts for the Bacolod-Silay, Iloilo, Davao, Laguindingan and New Bohol air gateways, valued at a combined P108 billion.
The project’s bid submission date has already been moved several times—the latest announcement by the DOTC showed no specific date at all. This is starting to worry bidders, including the Filipino-Indian venture of Megawide Construction Corp. and GMR Infrastructure.
Louie Ferrer, who heads the venture operating the Mactan Cebu International Airport, which GMR-Megawide won in 2014, said his group would prefer to submit a bid even if there was no guarantee of an award.
The risk, of course, is that there may no longer be any appetite for this deal if the future President deems this so, not to mention the loss of millions that Megawide-GMR and other would-be bidders had spent in evaluating these airports.
Ferrer said they were not alone and that others were also hoping that a bid submission would happen before President Aquino steps down in June.
Other pre-qualified groups are the consortiums led by San Miguel Corp. and South Korea’s Incheon Airport, Metro Pacific Investments Corp. with a unit of Aéroports de Paris and TAV Havalimanlari Holdings A.S, Aboitiz Equity Ventures with Vinci Airports, and the Filinvest Group with Japan’s Sojitz and Jatco.
There is time yet to get these airport deals off ground. Like we say here, abangan! Miguel R. Camus
Real estate personality of the year
Businessman and one-time presidential aspirant Manuel “Manny” Villar Jr.—aka The Brown Taipan—took the backseat in running his property empire to focus on legislative work for 18 years. He may have missed many years when the property market was at the peak. But now that he has retired from politics and is back at the helm of the Villar group, he has made up for lost time by working double-time to grow various businesses.
Villar, 65, was honored last night as the Philippines’ “real estate personality of the year” by the editors of regional real estate, architecture and design publication Property Report, which cited his remarkable impact on the real estate industry.
Previous honorees included the Net Group’s Ramon Fernando Rufino (2015), Megaworld Corp. founder and chair Andrew Tan (2014), former Ayala Land Inc. president Antonino Aquino (2013) and Century Property Group founder Jose Antonio (honoree for Southeast Asia in 2012).
Property Report cited Villar’s development of “communicities” or integrated urban developments combining lifestyle, retail, office, healthcare, education and leisure components for all Filipinos through flagship property arm Vista Land & Lifescapes and its subsidiaries—Camella Homes, Communities Philippines, Crown Asia, Vista Residences, Brittany and the newly acquired Starmalls Inc. Over the years, he has built about 300,000 quality houses for all market segments in 95 cities and municipalities across 36 provinces around the Philippines.
“For me, the Real Estate Personality of the Year award is a testament to how Vista Land has been an instrument in improving the lives of Filipinos by providing them homes to live comfortably and communities where necessities are within their reach,” told the Property Report.
Villar is one of the 11 tycoons from the Philippines who made it to Forbes magazine’s 2016 roster of wealthiest people on the planet with an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla
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