High society quarantine?

The long-awaited union of the “de alta sociedad” Aboitiz and Zobel families came to pass after the small Catholic wedding of Danel Aboitiz and Mariana Zobel was officiated last Feb. 20 in Colombia. Danel is the son of Aboitiz Power chair Endika Aboitiz and Mariana is the daughter of Jaime Augusto Zobel with Elizabeth Eder, who hails from the Colombian city of Cartagena, of course.

The chitchat, however, is that about 300 of the wedding guests are arriving this week from Colombia, recently stricken by the untreatable Zika virus. As such, there are some whispered suggestions—jokingly, of course—that perhaps the Philippine government should hold all these guests in quarantine while undergoing tests for the mosquito-born virus.

But where could the government safely quarantine that many people has Manila’s high society chattering. “Amanpulo, of course!” said one in jest. Daxim L. Lucas

New wings

AirSwift, a boutique airline under Ayala Land Inc., has acquired a new 50-seater aircraft ATR 42-600 to boost its capacity to bring more people to El Nido, Palawan. This is, after all, where the group has a big concentration of tourism estates—with four deluxe island resorts (Apulit, Lagen, Miniloc and Pangulasian) and one brand new resort-town Lio under development.

With this latest acquisition, which cost “hundreds of millions (in pesos),” ALI chief finance officer Jaime Ysmael said the boutique airline now has two twin-engine turbo-prop aircraft in its fleet, each with a seating capacity of 50. With record-low fuel prices boosting profits of airlines, it only makes sense for AirSwift to boost its capacity.

Following its takeover of deluxe resorts in Palawan, ALI earlier also acquired niche carrier Island Transvoyager Inc. (ITI) from a group of private individuals to be able to fly guests to and from Palawan. ITI has since been rebranded as AirSwift, which now services the Manila-El Nido and Cebu-El Nido routes.

AirSwift, which is under ALI’s subsidiary ALI Capital, offers daily roundtrip flights to Palawan. Based on its website, it is the only boutique commercial airline in the Philippines that is ISO-9001:2008-certified and that has also passed the quality and safety audits of some of the “strictest and most safety-conscious multinational corporations.” Doris Dumlao-Abadilla

Poor Internet service

THE JOINT Foreign Chambers of the Philippines took its turn at tackling the country’s slow and expensive Internet problems this week.

It was a well-attended forum, with a lot of good ideas—lowering entry barriers, open access and updating old laws—thrown out there for our future leader to chew on.

A good part of the discussion blamed the regulator and our telecom providers for the state of Internet services. Fortunately, telecommunications companies Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Globe Telecom did have a sympathetic ear to balance things out.

That’s because one of the guest speakers was lawyer Perry Pe, the new president of the Management Association of the Philippines.

Of course, both telcos are represented in the MAP. But apart from that fact and his own achievements, Pe is also married to Robina Gokongwei-Pe, businesswoman and eldest child of billionaire John Gokongwei Jr. The Gokongweis, as you know, are the biggest Filipino shareholders of PLDT.

In his remarks, Pe acknowledged the shortcomings in the industry, but he noted that it was “very hard” to do business in this country especially for a telco operator, citing instances where cell sites are attacked in far flung areas.

“It’s no joke,” Pe noted.

There were also ways to move forward, such as revisiting the 40-percent foreign ownership cap as well as moving to create a dedicated department for information, communications technology development, Pe said.

Good-quality Internet, he said, has lots of benefits starting with boosting the ease of doing business in the Philippines. He said the rest, such as luring local and foreign investments, creating more jobs and ensuring inclusive growth, will soon follow. Miguel R. Camus

Jura Discovery in PH

GEORGE Orwell wrote his masterpiece “1984” in the Isle of Jura in Scotland and called it “the most ungettable place on earth.” Fortunately, one does not have to go to the remote island to have a taste of what it offers, thanks to the launch of the Jura Discovery pack, an affordable getaway to the pleasures of single malt whisky executed according to a proud Scottish tradition.

The Jura Discovery Pack consists of three 20-cl bottles of Jura Single Malt Whisky—Origin (sweet), Journey (lightly smoky) and Destiny (smoky)—and will make its debut in Asia during this year’s edition of the Great British Festival to be held on Feb. 26-28 at the Bonifacio Global City. The premium collection will be sold at P1,700 and is expected to entice even non-drinkers of single malt to give it a try.

Jura Single Malt Whisky is one of the brands of Whyte & Mackay, the fifth-biggest maker of Scotch whisky in the world with a history of more than 160 years and owns some of the most iconic Scotch brands in the industry, including the Dalmore brand.

Last year, tycoon Andrew Tan fully acquired the Whyte & Mackay Group Ltd. and its subsidiaries to add to his growing collection of global brands. Tina Arceo-Dumlao

Tourism boom

BOHOL is definitely back on the international tourist map, having bounced back from the devastating earthquake in 2013 that wrecked a number of heritage churches and other historical structures in the province.

Packs of foreign travelers were observed crowding all flights to and from Tagbilaran via Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and Air Asia, all of which offer a combined six flights daily. Resorts are growing in number, not only along the popular Alona Beach, but in hilly areas where one can see breathtaking views of the seas surrounding Bohol.

However, many stakeholders are now growing concerned about the impact of the rapid tourist influx and continuing construction of new resorts. They fear that Panglao Island, where most of the resorts are located, will go the way of Boracay Island where environmental degradation has been observed.

Panglao, for one, doesn’t have a sanitary landfill for its garbage and the planned international airport is expected to put more environmental stress on the island, which actually sits on a bed of coral.

While the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) has funded projects to bring tourists to other portions of Bohol (instead of just concentrating them on Panglao), these may not be enough to save the island from environmental pressures. Daxim L. Lucas

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