BIZ BUZZ: Robina celebrates ‘twin’
What used to irk Robina Gokongwei-Pe is now the subject of her recent—and now viral—Facebook post celebrating the upcoming Chinese New Year.
You may have already heard it yourself.
Decades ago, an urban legend narrated that Gokongwei-Pe, the eldest child of the late group founder John Gokongwei Jr., had a twin python that laid golden eggs, supposedly the source of her family’s wealth.
Fast forward to today and Gokongwei-Pe herself referenced the urban legend well known by Filipinos of a certain age.
“Look who finally decided to come out of hiding,” Gokongwei-Pe quipped in her Facebook post, which showed a photo of her at a Robinsons Department Store holding a fake gold snake, “My shining, shimmering golden twin (with his pretty in pink girlfriend)!”
Even today, some still stubbornly believe the legend that trap doors were installed under dressing rooms to capture women that would be offered to the snake and allow it to continue laying those golden eggs.
Maybe this one slithered out?
“Here’s to a slitheringly good Year of the Snake!” Gokongwei-Pe said. —Meg J. Adonis
ING to launch GenAI apps in PH
And we have more updates from Finance Secretary Ralph Recto’s recent trip to Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum.
On the sidelines of the Davos meet, the finance chief had a discussion with officials of Dutch financial giant ING Bank to explore more partnership opportunities with the Philippines, particularly in leveraging artificial intelligence (AI).
Recto’s meeting with ING chair of the Supervisory Board Karl Guha and CEO Steven van Rijswijk zeroed in on the Bank’s plan to launch its pioneering use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in the Philippines.
The move will make the Philippines the next country after the Netherlands and Germany to host ING’s live GenAI applications, which can be used to assist customers.
And the move makes sense. For ING, the Philippines is a key hub for its operations, with 6,000 of its 14,000 global workforce based in the country.
That said, the Bank also underscored its commitment to further invest in the Philippines’ workforce by developing advanced skill sets. —Ian Nicolas P. Cigaral
