Biz Buzz: Windfall from Uncle Sam

It’s no secret that port calls by US Navy warships bring economic benefits to any city they visit, but this is especially true when it’s not just a single warship but an entire “carrier strike group” that comes calling, like last week’s visit by the aircraft carrier USS George Washington and several of its support vessels.

An aircraft carrier, of course, carries at least 5,500 navy officers and enlisted men, and this number goes up to about 7,500 when one counts the crew of other cruisers, destroyers, frigates and submarines in the flotilla.

Apart from the usual boon the sailors bring to the red light districts of Manila and Makati, the biggest beneficiary of their economic largesse, it seems, was the SM Mall of Asia situated right on the edge of Manila Bay.

According to our source, the sprawling mall had been bursting at the seams last weekend as establishments struggled (successfully, by most indications) to accommodate the deluge of sailors. Last Saturday, for example, when foot traffic was at its highest, the mall’s money changers bought some P5 million worth of US dollars from the shopping-mad carrier crew. Almost all of this was spent within the mall’s premises, we’re told. And that was just for one of the five days that the carrier was in port.

Strangely, most spent their money on American brands that were already familiar to them, meaning they patronized establishments like TGI Fridays, Gap, Starbucks and, perhaps the exception, Highlands Steakhouse.

Most restaurants reported double or even triple their average daily sales volume, especially during the weekend. Come more often, please.—Daxim L. Lucas

Ex-PSE exec in politics

A formeR Philippine Stock Exchange official is again throwing his hat into the political arena.

Pete Malabanan, the former head of the PSE’s Disclosure Department, is running as an independent candidate for mayor in his hometown of Balayan, Batangas. Malabanan actually is not new to politics as he ran and won as vice mayor of Balayan in 2001.

At 59, he is reviving his political career because—in his words—“perhaps townsfolk in Balayan will benefit if I apply there my experience as a professional manager.”

As a business professional, Malabanan has an impressive resume. A certified public accountant, lawyer and securities specialist, he held various senior positions in the corporate world, including vice president for a bank and a holding company. When he took up law at Ateneo, he consistently made it to the Dean’s List. He also emerged class topnotcher when he took up in the 1980s a master’s in business and public administration, when it was offered as a joint program of the University of the Philippines and De La Salle University.

According to Malabanan, if he wins, he will “run Balayan like a company CEO for the benefit of all stakeholders.”—Tina Arceo-Dumlao

Enter the Dragon

An experienced fund manager, born in the Year of the Dragon and who once headed a top government financial agency some two presidents ago, was noticed to have been accumulating shares of an energy company that recently went public. It shouldn’t surprise many should his moves veer toward negotiating a more significant stake in the PSE newbie.

The “Dragon” has evidently been on an acquisition mode. He has already acquired a considerable stake in a tech company that also went public earlier this year, enough to earn him at least a couple of board seats.—Daxim L. Lucas

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