Volcanic windfall

WHO’S AFRAID of Taal Volcano? Property tycoon Henry Sy Jr. a.k.a. “Big Boy” certainly isn’t.

If at all, he is even thankful that the volcano has been acting up recently as it may have even have catapulted the Sy family’s leisure estate projects in Tagaytay more prominently into investors’ radar screens.

Over the Lenten break, the group’s Tagaytay projects (via SMDC, Highlands Prime and Tagaytay Highlands developer Belle Corp.) lured the greatest number of visitors and posted mind-boggling sales.

“I was a little bit worried, but strangely, Highlands Prime sales went up the most in April, and SMDC sales for Wind (their condominium project) skyrocketed also last Holy Week,” Sy said. “So if you ask me what’s the reason, I don’t know, that’s why I said thank you to the volcano.”

Based on feedback from local people, Sy said ashes from previous eruptions never reached the mainland. “That’s why our buyers proved us wrong by buying so much units in all our projects in Tagaytay,” Sy said. Doris C. Dumlao

Big Boy’s beauties

IF SMDC has figured prominently in the upcoming Miss World beauty pageant to be held at the Philippine International Convention Center this July (with an SMDC condo as part of the grand prize package), it’s because the group is providing new pageant franchise holder Cory Quirino financial muscle as a full partner for this year’s tilt.

Big Boy said this will keep SMDC busy while it’s planning its next movie to showcase the products of the firm (and other SM-affiliated companies).

SMDC’s new image model, actress Anne Curtis, who graced the property firm’s annual stockholders meeting on Monday, said she might start shooting by next month another movie opposite actor Derek Ramsey.

But this new flick isn’t co-produced by SMDC. For now, Big Boy says he will focus on the Miss World pageant. Doris C. Dumlao

Coyiuto bags Lamborghini?

SINCE Roberto Coyiuto Jr. already has venerable German luxury car brands Audi and Porsche under distributorship agreements with his PGA Cars, will it just be a matter of time before he adds flashy Lamborghini to his growing stable?

There is a very real possibility that this will come to pass as Coyiuto and other members of the PGA Cars management team were recently seen entering the VIP meeting room of the Lamborghini pavilion at the Shanghai Auto Show 2011.

Some wags say that the meeting concluded on a happy note for Coyiuto, who has been distributing high-end German automotive brands since 1995. And since Lamborghini is also part of the Volkswagen group that includes Audi and Porsche, Coyiuto is in pole position to distribution deal.

If this happens, then Lamborghini aficionados who are yearning to drive a Gallardo or Aventador will no longer have to rely on the gray market or import the cars themselves. They may soon need to just go to a PGA showroom and drive off with a piece of precision engineering—if they can afford it, that is. Tina Arceo-Dumlao

Cavite traffic? Gone!

TRAVEL time from Pasay City to Kawit, Cavite, will be cut to a mere 20 minutes starting Wednesday with the inauguration of the R1 Extension of the Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway (Cavitex), with no less than President Benigno S. Aquino III gracing the occasion.
The new 7-kilometer tollway built by UEM-MARA Philippines Corp.—a wholly owned subsidiary of Coastal Road Corp.—extends the existing 6.45-km Coastal Road from Zapote in Las Piñas to Tirona Highway in Kawit, Cavite.

According to the firm, the new highway can accommodate as many as 100,000 vehicles a day, helping ease the notoriously bad traffic conditions in and out of Cavite that stretch travel time to as long as two hours on bad days.

The company also hopes that the shortened travel time will give a boost to the Cavite investment scene, adding to the locators already in the Cavite Export Processing Zone in the towns of Rosario, Noveleta and General Trias.

The price tag? A cool P5.7 billion, shared between UEM-MARA and the Philippine Reclamation Authority—the first major infrastructure project inaugurated under the Aquino administration.

Motorists can use the R1 Extension free for the remaining days of this month, but will have to pay a P58 toll fee starting May 1.

According to people who have “test driven” the new highway, the company was able to build it in such a way as to provide motorists with a scenic view of Manila Bay, especially during its famous sunsets. Just keep your windows rolled up because they have yet to invest in the technology to fix that equally famous Manila Bay fragrance. Daxim L. Lucas

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