Biz Buzz: Interviewed… and hired on the spot

Even incoming BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla got caught off guard when what was supposedly just an interview last Monday later turned out to be an announcement of his appointment.

In a press conference yesterday, Espenilla told reporters that he was “very happy about it, at the same time I know the challenge and the burden that comes with the job.”

“But I can’t complain because I have sought it and I have prepared for it. And I am determined to do a good job at it,” Espenilla added.

According to Espenilla, last Monday, “I was essentially asked to go to Malacañang for which I thought was an interview, and there was an interview.”

“But what, in a way, turned out to be pleasant surprise for me was that the interview shortly ripened into a decision and I was informed that I am going to be appointed. And it quickly progressed toward being invited to join the rest of the Cabinet. And I was presented by [Finance] Secretary Sonny Dominguez to the President. And the announcement was subsequently made,” Espenilla said.

He would not name the personalities who interviewed him, only saying they were “the President’s team” and that President Duterte was not part of the interview panel. “I was just presented to the President.”

Asked if he felt any pressure as he will succeed Tetangco — a multiawarded central banker—Espenilla said there was pressure because “those are very, very big shoes to fill up.”

“But it’s like a basketball or volleyball team. Our captain is graduating and I’ve been part of that team. I’m changing roles within the team. But the essential team is intact. The BSP has been developed over the years to be a professional workforce. I’ll be leveraging on that… I think it’s one factor that will make me sleep better at night, because there’s a very strong BSP team to work with,” he said.

The first person Espenilla told of his bigger role at the BSP was his wife, “because she will suffer with me.”

“She was essentially happy because as a career public servant it was the realization of a dream. And I said, this is something I worked hard for and this is actually my opportunity to serve at a higher level,” Espenilla said.

Amid a flurry of congratulatory text messages and e-mails congratulating him last Monday, his phone battery went dead and he was able to have just only a few hours of sleep. “There was an adrenaline rush,” he said.

But the lack of sleep was not Espenilla’s biggest problem—it was his penmanship.

Asked if he already practiced his signature, which will appear in bank notes together with the President’s, Espenilla said: “Pinoproblema ko ‘yun. Hindi maganda ang pirma ko. I have to practice.” — BEN O. DE VERA

Pacific Star’s second act

When it was completed in 1989, it was the tallest building in the Philippines with 29 stories. It was also one of the most modern, but that is no longer the case, with many buildings eclipsing it in height, floor area and modern amenities since then.

We’re talking, of course, about the Pacific Star Building at the corner of Makati and Sen. Gil Puyat Avenues in Makati City, a structure once known as the Nauru Building because it was built by the Republic of Nauru with proceeds from the island nation’s phosphate wealth.

Today, the structure is owned and managed by the Century Properties Group of Ambassador Jose Antonio. It’s not as modern and swanky as his other buildings, but he chose to establish the company headquarters there (with a clear line of site to his flagship Century City development a few blocks away, of course).

But now, Antonio is preparing to reshape the Pacific Star Building and, perhaps, bring it up to par with his other more modern structures. That’s because, starting later this year, Century Properties will build a second skyscraper on the property where the low-rise 6-storey section of Pacific Star currently stands.

According to Antonio, building the new structure will entail demolishing the low-rise structure to be able to put in deeper foundations as well as to redo the basement parking of the complex.

So there will be more basement parking space going down and, of course, more office space heading up. How much more? The new tower may have a total of 40 stories, depending on the final plans.

Of course, existing Pacific Star property owners and tenants will get first crack at acquiring or leasing space in the new building (and one of the largest owners in the building association is the SM group, which is always interested in investments like this).

How much will the new building cost? North of P4 billion, we hear. Not a bad investment given the shortage of grade-A office space on that side of Makati. — DAXIM L. LUCAS

Speaking of which…

One of Pacific Star’s major tenants is the rapidly expanding law firm headed by University of Santo Tomas law dean Nilo Divina. We’ve previously mentioned in this column that DivinaLaw was growing rapidly and was quickly running out of office space to accommodate all their newly hired lawyers, both veterans and newbies.

Well, from previously occupying only half of a floor in Pacific Star, the law firm recently completed an expansion that effectively doubled its footprint in the building. The expanded office was inaugurated recently with some of the law office’s top tier clients from the business community in attendance (including Double Dragon’s Injap Sia and Divina’s mentor from his Equitable Bank days, Antonio Go), along with fellow legal eagles Andy Bautista from the Commission on Elections.

While the expanded digs included the usual plush offices for the firm’s new lawyers — including a large assembly-cum-dining hall with marble tables and newfangled “co-working spaces” for its so-called “of counsels” who may drop in every now and then — Divina was proudest of one particular part of the law office which he said no other firm had.

We’re talking about a chapel, complete with an altar and pews, that will host regular Masses. At the front, the chapel (simple, not ornate) is adorned with a specially commissioned mural of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, flanked by the Archangels Raphael and Gabriel.

Divina explained that Raphael is the angel associated with all manners of healing (including healing legal disputes, perhaps?) and Gabriel is the messenger of God (preferably bringing good tidings about legal victories and not in his other role as the dreaded Angel of Death).

In any case, Divina says in jest that the firm’s clients can count not only on their legal skills, but divine intervention as well. The market will surely be watching this firm’s track record. — DAXIM L. LUCAS

Election hotspot

The election fever is over in the Philippines but not in upscale Ayala Alabang Village, where this hot summer has just turned even more sizzling as the state-controlled Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLRUB) stepped into the electoral process of the village association. The election is, in turn, seen very critical to the debate among homeowners on whether or not to open new gates in the village.

To recall, the village association, backed by many homeowners, is pushing for the opening of more gates in the village as a way to improve traffic flow and facilitate easy access to hospitals in case of medical emergency. The protesters are concerned about security risks and insist that the association follow due process, one of which is to get written concurrence from 75 percent of lot owners residing along the affected roads.

Acting on a petition filed by Helen Macasaet, a lady whose house is right beside the proposed San Jose gate, the HLURB issued on April 20 an order for the Ayala Alabang Village Association Inc. (AAVAI) to submit a master list of members. The HLURB said it was “appalled” at the refusal of the incumbent board to furnish HLURB with the master list, a “great cause of delay” in the conduct of the special election of the association.

The HLURB thus decided that it would oversee the AAVAI elections, saying it appeared that incumbent officials have “arbitrarily provided a three-year validity in their proxy forms,” noting that such a period of proxy appointment was an “exception rather than the rule.” While this is allowed by law, the HLURB said the prerogative clearly belonged to the principal homeowner/member and not to AAVAI.

On the submission of the master list of AAVAI members, the HLURB said this was essential to determine the validity of a membership meeting or election of directors/governors. Incumbent officials initially resisted the idea, saying that this was tantamount to asking the association to divulge the list of all the lot owners in this exclusive village to a third party, ergo an “intrusion into the privacy” of all the residents.

In the end, the buzz is that the village association decided to comply with the HLURB’s order to provide a master list. But as to whether AAVAI will let the HLURB run the elections of new directors, that’s an entirely different matter. — DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA