The President’s choice

Here we go again.

Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry president John K.C. Ng and executive vice-president Robin Sy weren't invited to a dinner hosted Tuesday night by President Macapagal-Arroyo.

Oh yes, freshman vice-president Francis Chua wasn't also invited.

The dinner that was supposedly for the federation's 10 most senior officers – for which only seven received invitations – ended with the President naming her choice for federation president, who will be elected for a two-year term during the March 21 annual convention.

The President's choice was, uh, a surprise to many.

Tuesday's dinner came a day after Johnny Ng placed a huge ad in a Binondo-based newspaper that he wasn't running for president for the sake of the federation, unless he was asked – imagine a million signatures campaign on a smaller scale – to do so, again for the sake of the federation.

Mr. Ng's running for president was premised on the fact that he is currently finishing the uncompleted term of Benjamin Chua Jr., who passed away last year. Under the federation's by-laws, the president cannot succeed himself.

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Here's the battle plan of Dr. Jorge Garcia to make Asian Hospital viable. The way this heart surgeon to the rich and famous (including the royalty of Brunei) sees it, the money is not in how many of the hospital's 250 rooms are occupied but in how much out-patient business (such as laboratory tests) it can generate.

Although occupancy rate is used as a measure of viability, the margin on a hospital room is incredibly narrow. For one, hospital rooms are cheaper than hotel rooms of the same category. For another, the room rate already includes three meals a day and the shared cost of a nurse.

In accounting terms, a hospital room generally becomes unviable on the fourth day of a patient's stay.

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The Asian Institute of Management currently has two professors serving government.

On leave from AIM are National Economic Development Authority director-general Romulo Neri and Education Undersecretary Jose Miguel Luz (who is often described as the nicer – okay, and also better-looking – brother of Makati Business Club executive director Guillermo Luz).

Then again, AIM has former Finance Secretary Roberto de Ocampo as president. Also in its faculty are former Labor Secretary Nieves Confesor and former Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ernesto Garilao.

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Bank notes: Just because the Bangko Sentral prints the country's money doesn't mean it's giving it away – certainly not in a raffle, for heaven's sake! Here are three good reasons.

One, holding a raffle is prohibited by the Bangko Sentral charter. Two, Governor Rafael Buenaventura is too busy defending the peso to entertain phone calls confirming whether the caller has indeed won a raffle prize.

Besides, Paeng Buenaventura is totally focused on getting the amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Law passed by tomorrow. Non-passage of the amendments will affect, among others, the regular and huge remittance of dollars from the Philippines via Hong Kong to Italy.

Three, you need to buy a raffle ticket to win a raffle.

Here's how the ongoing scam works. A cellphone user is told that he/she has won P2 million in a Bangko Sentral-initiated raffle. The winning number is the last seven-digits of the cellphone.

To allay any suspicion the phone user may have, he/she is given the so-called phone number of Mr. Buenaventura to confirm his/her winning.

After the confirmation by a voice claiming to be Mr. Buenaventura, the raffle winner is asked to buy 20 P500-denominated pre-paid cards and to cough up a processing fee (this amount varies) before he/she can claim the non-existent P2 million.