Biz Buzz: Forbes ‘resident’ gets eviction notice

Forbes ‘resident’ gets eviction notice

There’s never a dull moment among the well-heeled who live in super exclusive Makati villages like Forbes Park.

Take the legal squabble between Dr. Daniel Vasquez and Edna Camcam, who was once the “special someone” of the late Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Fabian Ver during the long reign of the Marcos regime.

Biz Buzz learned that, after fleeing into exile in the wake of the 1986 Edsa Revolution, Gen. Ver called up his old friend, Vasquez, and asked him if he could help put a roof over the head of Camcam while the entire Marcos posse was overseas.

On account of a long friendship, Vasquez agreed and allowed Camcam to stay in a recently acquired house (maybe “mansion” would be more appropriate) on 3 Cambridge Circle, North Forbes.

And so it went for several years, until recent times when Vasquez decided that he had shown enough generosity to Camcam and perhaps extinguished his obligations to his now deceased friend, Gen. Ver. In 2012, Vasquez asked Camcam—now 70 years old —to vacate the premises, but for one reason or another, she decided that she fancied the North Forbes mansion and wanted to stay there permanently.

A legal case ensued, of course, with Vasquez showing all sorts of proof of ownership, including a guarantee letter from Camcam saying that she would cause the owner no grief once he asked for his house back.

Recently, however, some good news came Vasquez’s way after the Makati regional trial court decided to throw out the complaint filed by Camcam and businessman Benjie Bitanga (who owned the house in the interim, before he sold it to Vasquez) against the physician.

Basically, Judge Winlove Dumayas of the Makati RTC said that all evidence pointed to the fact that Vasquez owned the house and had the right to do with it as he pleased.

Now comes the hard part. Despite having won the case last month, Vasquez will now have to physically evict Camcam—a tricky maneuver, as anyone who had tried to reacquire possession of his property in this country knows.

But count on this to happen soon. The stakes are high. Last we heard, that house is estimated to be worth around P300 million. Abangan. Daxim L. Lucas

The Chinese are coming

The province of Albay, with its majestic Mayon Volcano, rustic environment and plush resorts like Misibis Bay, promises to be the country’s next hottest tourist destination. On the eve of Chinese New Year (Jan. 30), the province will welcome the first direct international flight to Legazpi Airport ferrying hundreds of tourists from Xiamen, China.

The maiden charter flight mounted by flag carrier Philippine Airlines is apparently the first of many that will bring to the heart of Bicolandia thousands of Chinese holiday-seekers. The launching of the special flight was specifically timed for the long Chinese New Year break when millions of mainland Chinese seek out new holiday destinations. On Feb. 3, another batch of tourists from Xiamen will experience genuine Bicolano hospitality. Every detail of their 5-day/4-night trip—from their departure in China, arrival in Legazpi, tour and travel activities in Misibis Bay, Legazpi City and Donsol until their return trip—has been carefully planned to ensure that they will spread the word about the “spiciest” tourist destination in the Philippine islands.

The aggressive tourism promotion is a public-private initiative of Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, the City of Legazpi, Misibis Bay Casino and Resorts and CTS China. Daxim L. Lucas

Rethinking Podium

Despite this being her family’s bread and butter, SM group’s Tessie Sy-Coson is unable to shop in SM malls. “I can’t shop because this is my place of work,” Sy said at the opening of Mega Fashion Mall, when asked which of the fashionista brands in the new wing she liked shopping in.

But Sy-Coson buys her clothes herself and finds time to do so when traveling overseas such as in London, Paris or Singapore where she can freely shop without creating a fuss around her.

There is an exception to her rule. Locally, Sy-Coson buys stuff for herself at Uniqlo. Apart from liking this Japanese brand, whose overseas stores she also visits, Sy-Coson said she can go there because she’s not involved in its management, she can do anonymous shopping at the local Uniqlo stores.

Meanwhile, Sy-Coson said SM Podium would have a make-over soon. This has been prompted by the opening of Mega Fashion Mall, which already offers premium fashion brands and may otherwise eat into Podium’s business. “We will redo the whole model. It’s still retail but with a different concept,” she said. “I can’t even say what yet. We’re still putting it together.”  Doris C. Dumlao

Sweetening China

The Chinese economy may be slowing down but the SM group is even fast-tracking its expansion in the mainland to avail itself of the sweeteners.

The group may open its shopping mall in Tianjin this year, ahead of the 2015 original target, SM Prime president Hans Sy said. “We were given very attractive incentives to open,” he said at the sidelines of yesterday’s opening of Mega Fashion Mall.

SM Tianjin, on a sprawling 43 hectares or the size of about three football stadiums, is seen becoming the group’s biggest offshore shopping mall. It was originally planned to be even larger than any of its Philippine malls but Sy said that with the “little by little” expansion of the Mall of Asia hub, the two shopping hubs may be comparable.

Asked about the incentives offered by China to accelerate the opening of SM Tianjin, Steven Tan, vice president for SM Supermalls Premier Division, said these were in the form of tax breaks that SM would in turn be able to give back to tenants to open their stores sooner. The group is thus hoping to open by December this year and get at least 50 percent occupancy, Tan said.

SM, whose strategy in China is to focus on third- or fourth-tier cities, earlier opened two shopping malls in Xiamen, Jinjiang (hometown of founder Henry Sy), Chengdu, Suzhou and Chongqing. A new mall in Zibo has also been slated for opening this 2014.  Doris C. Dumlao

Get business alerts and a preview of Biz Buzz the evening before it comes out. Text ON INQ BUSINESS to 4467 (P2.50/alert).