IT?S not only on SM Supermarket shelves that Colgate toothpaste and Palmolive shampoo are missing these days.

Avid Kapamilya viewers have not seen Colgate and Palmolive commercials since April this year over a pricing disagreement with broadcasting giant ABS-CBN.

The war erupted over a recent demand by Colgate-Palmolive Philippines for ABS-CBN to slash by half the price of its advertising placement slots.

Industry sources said ABS-CBN found this hard to swallow, especially in view of the 18-minute-per hour industry-prescribed maximum advertising load that it strictly adheres to. But while painfully letting go of the estimated P400-million-a-year Colgate-Palmolive ad business, ABS-CBN took heart from the long queue of other consumer good merchants wanting to advertise during its primetime shows.

Colgate, on the other hand, has found solace in ABS-CBN?s rival, GMA Network. As to these networks? squabble over TV ratings, that?s another long-running juicy saga. Doris C. Dumlao

The 20-percent hurdle

Among the stumbling blocks to the PLDT Beneficial Trust?s much talked about acquisition of the country?s third biggest broadsheet Philippine Star, according to the grapevine, is PLDT chair Manuel V. Pangilinan?s reluctance to lay down more than a 20-percent down payment relative to the P4-billion proposed transaction.

MVP, for his part, had said that every negotiation was always just as tough, but he was still targeting to close a deal by July or August. Doris C. Dumlao

Hello Richville

One interesting tidbit that went around these past few days was the rumor about San Miguel Brewery?s supposedly rich payoff to boxing champion Manny Pacquiao for his string of television commercials for the beer giant.

According to the rumor, Pacquiao was to have received as payment a huge Dasmariñas Village property along Palm Avenue, one of the wealthy enclave?s two main thoroughfares.

According to one source, the property was once owned by the prominent Junior Tambunting before it was acquired by United Coconut Planters Bank some years back. From UCPB, it?s easy to see how it would land on Pacquiao?s lap via San Miguel.

Another source said the property (about 3,000 square meters) has been on the selling block for many years, with no takers owing to its hefty price. Supposedly, however, it was sold recently for a sweet P190 million (peanuts really, given Pacquiao?s estimated current net worth of about P1.5 billion).

One ranking San Miguel official has already denied the rumor, but Pacquiao?s would-be Dasma neighbors are still exchanging nervous laughs about the prospect of going to Sunday Mass with Aling Dionisia. Daxim L. Lucas

Rubber stamp no more

Long accustomed to treating the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas as a rubber stamp when foreign loan approvals are concerned, the national government recently received an unpleasant surprise when its application for a $1-billion global bond issue was sent back with a ?needs more work? note attached to it (figuratively, of course).

The Bangko Sentral is required by law to review and approve (or disapprove) all foreign loans whether from the public or private sector, as a result of the harsh lessons learned in the 1980s that caused the country?s infamous debt moratorium.

For the first time in a very long while, however, the Bangko Sentral flexed its muscles and deferred the approval of the national government?s bond issue, taking some finance department officials by surprise.

Observers couldn?t help but speculate about the recent tension between monetary and fiscal authorities over the latter?s failure to honor the promise to infuse P40 billion in capital to the BSP ... all while administration allies get free rein to pound on central bank officials during Congress investigations.

And while the Bangko Sentral declared about P5 billion in dividends this year, no ceremonies were held to publicize the turnover (which has yet to happen), unlike what has been the tradition over the years.

National government officials, on the other hand, are pretending not to notice with their best ?patay malisya? faces. Daxim L. Lucas

Junk bonds, anyone?

Speaking of capital, one mode supposedly proposed by the national government for the Bangko Sentral?s recapitalization is for the creation a special purpose vehicle that will raise the funds from the debt market.

The funds raised (presumably about P40 billion) will then be used as the central bank?s capital?a scheme that is eerily similar to the Tier 2 capital method used by capital-deficient banks to shore up their balance sheets.

The BSP supposedly balked, however, when told that the SPV will back up its debt issue with yet-unknown assets that the government may infuse into it at some future date. The scheme would have basically recapitalized the BSP with what it felt would be junk bonds. Daxim L. Lucas