Mr John gets in

For a reservation fee of P1.5 million, John Gokongwei Jr. now has a foothold inside Fort Bonifacio Global City.

Through Robinsons Land Corp., Mr. John has 30 days from last Friday to pay the balance of about P410 million to the Ayala-Campos consortium for about 4,200 square meters in the so-called Embassy Row.

As everybody knows, Robinsons and Ayala Land Inc. lost out to the First Pacific-led group when the former military estate was partially privatized by government. Since then, First Pacific has sold its entire stake in Fort Bonifacio to ALI and its partner, Greenfield Development Corp.

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Here’s an innovative way to address donor fatigue among alumni from a school that has generated three Finance Secretaries, one Central Bank governor and one Bangko Sentral governor in the last 17 years.

To raise funds for R&D and scholarship projects, De La Salle University System interim president Carmelita Quebengco has okayed a proposal by Investment & Capital Corp. of the Phils. chief executive officer Guillermo Luchangco to offer zero-coupon bonds, with maturities of between three and 10 years.

Similar to a traditional pre-need educational plan, the bondholder will, in effect, be lending money to his/her alma mater. The added come-on here is the bondholder will be able to lock in the future cost of his/her child’s college education at DLSU for the equivalent to a four-year college course (with a maximum of 216 units).

The bonds will be initially offered to parents of Grade 1 to high school (sophomore children studying at either La Salle Greenhills or De La Salle Zobel. The cheapest bond – the one that matures in three years – has a purchase price of P430,000.

No, buying the bond doesn’t guarantee the child will automatically be accepted by DLSU. The kid, after all, has to pass the entrance exam.

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Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Lilia Bautista and Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II have come up with brochures, both in English and the vernacular, on how to quickly spot scams.

The number one advice? If the returns being offered are too good to be true, then alarm bells should ring.

Scams are, of course, not limited to those with millions of pesos. There are unscrupulous people who are only too willing to steal your money through your ATM card or borrow your name through your credit card.

For ATM cardholders – almost everybody’s salary is now coursed through the ATMs – the danger is in having someone looking over your shoulder or using binoculars to find out what your personal identification number or PIN is.

For credit cardholders – banks will offer cards to anyone earning at least P10,000 a month – the current scam involves getting a call that the cardholder’s credit limit has been increased. The cardholder is then asked to relinquish his/her old card to a messenger of the card company within 24 hours. The cardholder is then told that his/her new card will be delivered soon after.

As everybody knows, card companies inform their clients about such increases through a formal letter. It is also standard practice for card companies to ask cardholders to destroy their old card after they have received their new card.