Manila Golf: No-go for backup security
There’s a new house rule at the uber exclusive Manila Golf and Country Club which may leave some of its well-heeled members grumbling. And, ironically, the new policy was brought about by the grumbling of one or two members of the country’s most expensive golf club.
Biz Buzz hears that, starting last week, the management of Manila Golf has banned the backup vehicles of members—bearing their close-in security escorts, of course—from entering the club’s compound in Makati City.
This basically raises by a notch the existing policy of the club which prohibits members from bringing their bodyguards with them onto the club’s premises.
So why the new rule? Well, one member says that a few members have started complaining that the club’s parking lot (immediately to the left, once one enters the compound adjacent to the equally exclusive Forbes Park) sometimes “looks like a military barracks” with all the security personnel and their SUV backup vehicles waiting for their principals to finish their golf games or their meetings in the clubhouse.
In situations like this, the member often cannot find a parking slot (on the rare instance that a member drives himself or herself to the club)—not fun if you just paid P100 million for a share in the priciest golf club in the country.
With the new rule, backup vehicles will now have to wait outside the club, meaning they will most likely park along Harvard Road (and hopefully not generate a fresh round of complaints from other Forbes Park residents).
Not a lot of members have backup security vehicles, of course, but we’re told that those who do tend to crowd out the parking lot with not just one, but two SUVs for their security personnel.
It’s a lot easier if the VIP member doesn’t have a backup security vehicle. If he has a bodyguard riding in the primary vehicle, this bodyguard can assist the member in alighting from the vehicle and entering clubhouse … and promptly reenter the vehicle to wait in the parking lot.
By the way, if you’re wondering why personal security personnel are not allowed in the clubhouse or the golf course, this was because of an incident several years ago when a bodyguard accidentally dropped his firearm, leading to an “accidental discharge,” with the bullet hitting a nearby member—a mestizo bank president—in the hand.
But to every rule there is an exception, and this new policy is no exception.
Biz Buzz hears that the club’s management will allow only one individual to bring his backup security vehicles into the compound. And that individual is the sitting President of the Republic of the Philippines.
That’s because the club’s new rule specifically states that vehicles of the Presidential Security Group are exempted from the ban. Good move, of course. After all, one could argue that having the President play golf on your course enhances its value, even at the expense of members being temporarily unable to find parking, right?
Of course, the real test of this rule is if it will eventually be softened to accommodate other influential members who have yet to chime in on the new policy. Abangan! —Daxim L. Lucas
Buying opportunity
It’s been a brutal period for the local stock market that has left most of the country’s top companies and their shareholders bruised and even battered.
High-flying tech stocks, which in the Philippine context usually means telecommunications and internet companies, were not spared.
One of the hardest-hit was fiber tycoon Dennis Anthony Uy-led Converge ICT Solutions, one of strongest stock market names after its pandemic market debut.
Shares of the company had fallen steeply from a year ago thanks to the added pressure caused by the inevitable exit of private equity partner, Warburg Pincus.
Leading online stock broker COL Financial, however, is making the case for a Converge buy once the price settles down.
Converge founders Dennis and spouse Grace have stepped in to support the share price with the exit of Warburg.
COL views this as a positive signal to investors over the company’s prospects.
But there are headwinds on the horizon, notably, the company’s likely deletion from the closely followed MSCI Philippines index, which would be announced on Nov. 10.
This was due to Converge’s smaller market value due to the share price drop.
The removal from the index may add more downside pressure on the company’s share price to all time lows below P12 per share but COL says this would be an “opportunity to enter.”
Converge faces other challenges on the competition front. But the Uys are no strangers to competition, having built their fiber business from the literal ground up.
Investors would be closely watching Converge’s upcoming third quarter figures to see how the company is meeting its targets. —Miguel R. Camus
