ARMED with almost $1 billion in cold, hard cash, San Miguel Corp. has long been sitting on its hands waiting for the right time to buy. That time seems to have come, if the company's recent actions are any indication, given the "value assets" and hard-to-pass-off bargains now hanging on corporate clotheslines.

In its shopping cart are Petron Corp., Manila Electric Co., Indonesian coal miner PT Bumi Resources, and even insurance giant Philamlife.

But SMC will not do the financial heavy lifting alone. It will be ably assisted by San Miguel Retirement Plan--the employee-owned entity over which the company's owners exercise a considerable amount of influence.

But knowledgeable sources say this maneuvering is all part of a symbiotic (and by all accounts, fruitful) relationship between the SMC Retirement and SMC, since the latter had in the past extended the former almost P40 billion in advances.

According to these sources, SMC Retirement will now repay the favor by helping the "food and beverage conglomerate" (an increasingly inaccurate description of the firm that Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco Jr. heads) raise funds for its upcoming buying binge.

On top of this, SMC Retirement will also refund the P40 billion to add to the company's cash pile.

The retirement fund, which now holds the single biggest stake at 25 percent in SMC, is looking at unloading a chunk of its stake to "an interested buyer" within the next 12 months.

The fund earlier beefed up its stake in SMC by buying shares from Mr. Cojuangco and the Government Service Insurance System.

Who ever said that love between (corporate) relatives is a bad thing? Elizabeth Sanchez-Lacson

'Fooling' buyers
A TRADE OFFICIAL who spoke at a recent seminar for overseas Filipinos organized by the BSP and the Philippine Embassy in Singapore left fellow government officials and some people in the audience flabbergasted with his uncanny advice on how to sell more Philippine products in the global market.

The official said Philippine products were of good quality in the first place, then added: "Dapat gandahan lang ang packaging para makaloko (We must improve the packaging to fool people)." The official may have said it in jest but many agreed the overseas Pinoy community deserved more inspiring tips than this. Doris C. Dumlao

Birthday trap
THE MARKET NEEDS good news, given how the lingering global financial turmoil that has prompted orchestrated monetary easing by the world's most influential banks, a top central bank official said.

The BSP didn't immediately join the bandwagon, but recently agreed to slash the reserve requirement by 2 percentage points. And the effectivity date--Nov. 14, this Friday--is quite telling, as it coincides with BSP Governor Amando "Say" Tetangco Jr.'s 56th birthday. Banks are widely expected to behave on this day. Doris C. Dumlao