Papa has the last say

Jeffrey Cheng and his dad are seriously thinking of putting up a hotel beside NAIA-3.

Here’s the catch. While the Philippine International Air Terminals, Inc. will not put in the money (the hotel-investor will), the Chengs will have a strong say on how things are run.

So far, there have been no takers.

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Since the start of the year, Ortigas and Co. Ltd. chief operating officer Rex Drilon III has approved the rerouting of traffic thrice within the Greenhills Commercial Center, each one more confusing than the other.

It was also Mr. Drilon (who spent some time with the Cebu end of Ayala Land, Inc.) who came up with the idea of putting up a smaller tiangge, on top of the regular one-held year-round between Virra Mall and Shoppesville.

Through leases, the smaller tiangge, which is located in what used to be part of the Crossroads Arcade parking lot, generates higher and, in accounting terms, more consistent revenues for Ortigas than the parking fee of P20 charged every car.

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Bank notes: The pet name of Finance Secretary Jose Isidro Camacho for wife, Clara Acuna Camacho, is pangga, the Ilonggo term for love/beloved. Lito Camacho is Negrense by marriage – his wife is from that part of the country.

In turn, Kim Camacho’s pet name for her husband is "papa".

Contrary to public perception, "papa" listens to pangga but has the last say.

By the way, Ms. Camacho leaves the country today on business. Among other things, she is the Philippine representative for auction house, Sotheby’s, which has a scheduled regional auction at the end of the month.

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Bank notes 2: The three-year rigodon of foreign CEOs continues. Standard Chartered Bank (Phils.) president and chief executive officer Annemarie Durbin has done such a good job that she’s been posted to Thailand.

Ms. Durbin and her less than a year old baby will be flying to Bangkok on Sunday, Dec. 15.

Ms. Durbin’s mostly likely replacement is StanChart’s man in Brunei. Coincidentally, the new CEO of HSBC (Phils.) Warner Manning effective this December is clearing his desk in Brunei and will be flying in end-November.

As everyone knows, Mr. Manning will take over from Paul Lawrence, who will head HSBC Singapore, a definite promotion. Mr. Lawrence, who spent six years in the Philippines (the first three as deputy head), and his wife have a lot of friends to say good-bye to.

In the case of Citibank corporate country manager Catherine Weir, her new posting is expected to come through next year. You see, Citi has planned a year-long celebration of its centenary in Asia and Cathy Weir will finish that.