Biz Buzz: Wack Wack expulsion?

Remember the notorious “Mr. G” of Wack Wack Golf and Country Club who was the subject of sexual harassment complaints from six umbrella girls?

He and his lawyers have successfully whittled down the complaints and complainants from six to one (as of last month) through tactics of attrition, but it may all be for naught. Biz Buzz learned that the board of directors of the tony golf club in Mandaluyong is set to meet later this week to take up one matter: Mr. G’s expulsion.

From the looks of it, the umbrella girl connoisseur’s chances of staying as a Wack Wack member look dim as the committee hearing the case has supposedly recommended his expulsion.

But that’s not a done deal because Mr. G does have his defenders and the Wack Wack board does have two factions, last we heard.

In any case, we hope Wack Wack decides on the case with the same impartiality shown by the board of Manila Golf and Country Club when deciding on the case of one of its illustrious members two years ago.

In that incident, Manila Golf decided to expel a well-known and respected member who was the subject of sexual harassment complaints of not just six umbrella girls, but 21. Imagine that. Twenty-one. Daxim L. Lucas

Entrapped

A FORMER Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) employee suspected of soliciting stock investments and organizing stock investing seminars, while name-dropping his former employer and some member stockbrokerages, was nabbed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) during the weekend following an entrapment operation launched by authorities.

The ex-PSE employee, Jose Cecilio “Jay” Peñaflor, is also under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) following a complaint filed by one John Benedict Aguzar, a former associate.

“We are investigating it because of a complaint filed by the co-partner of Peñaflor. We will be coordinating with NBI for the filing of appropriate cases,” SEC assistant director in charge of the investigations and prosecution division Lalaine Monserate told Biz Buzz.

Based on reports, Peñaflor had accepted stock investments without authority—including from a group of his own students from San Beda. Charges of estafa and unauthorized sale of securities await him in this Year of the Fire Monkey.

During the entrapment operation, Peñaflor was caught in the act of trying to deal with an investor. It turned out that the former PSE employee had long been in the radar screen of the NBI, whose team also raided his workplace.

Peñaflor ceased to be a PSE employee in 2013 but the local bourse had to issue a public notice late last year that he was no longer connected with it and was “not and was never connected in any capacity” with Regina Capital Development Corp., HE Bennett Securities Inc. or Venture Securities Inc.

As the PSE has always advised the investing public: Transact only with authorized agents and traders of PSE trading participants. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla

More Ayala B&Bs

AFTER the successful pilot-test of El Nido Cove bed and breakfast (B&B) in mainland El Nido, property giant Ayala Land Inc. is getting the hang of the B&B business.

ALI is set to unveil two more B&B outlets with 20 rooms each at its new beachfront tourism estate Lio Resort Town in northern Palawan later this year. These new B&Bs will thus be among the first few neighbors of the soon-to-rise 150-room Seda Lio resort and a burgeoning retail strip. Seda Lio—the first resort line under ALI’s homegrown hospitality brand Se     da—is targeting to offer rooms at $175 a night, but the new B&Bs may offer even cheaper rooms at $100 or less.

“We’re broadening the market,” Jose Emmanuel Jalandoni, ALI senior vice president and group head of commercial business told Biz Buzz.

To recall, ALI entered the upscale end of the hospitality supply chain in Palawan first and now runs four deluxe island-resorts—Apulit, Lagen, Miniloc and Pangulasian (where room rates are more than $300 a night). But the next stage of expansion in Palawan is to build an entirely new beachfront town with a more diversified offering. Lio, a 325-hectare project with a three-kilometer beachfront in Barangays Villa Libertad and Pasadena in mainland El Nido town, is envisioned to have a mix of hotels and resorts, commercial developments and residential communities that blend with the natural landscape.

Jalandoni said the group had been extremely happy with how the first B&B in El Nido was performing. ALI is now ready to replicate the model and may even be able to offer cheaper and smaller rooms at Lio.

Having the B&Bs along with Seda Lio and the retail mall is part of the strategy to draw foot traffic to the new resort town and make it accessible even to backpackers. Ayala’s B&Bs are seen to raise the bar for similar establishments and likewise create a model for sustainability as they will produce biodiesel through the recycling of used cooking oil and use them for internal power generation.  Doris Dumlao-Abadilla

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