The new man in Ayala

The announcement was made among the managers of Ayala Land, Inc. but the rest of the country probably hasn’t heard about it yet.

Okay, the replacement of Francisco Licuanan III as president is Jimmy Ayala, the current head honcho of Mckinsey’s Philippine operations. Mr. Ayala will be coming on board next year.

Despite the name, Mr. Ayala is not related to ALI chairman Fernando Zobel de Ayala. Mr. Ayala is, however, close to Fernando and his brother, Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala II, because they’re all ga-ga about the role of IT in a globalized economy.

Besides, Mr. Ayala also fits in the kind of senior managers the Zobel de Ayala brothers are most comfortable with – still in their forties but with global working experience and proudly Filipino.

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There’s a lighter and, therefore, happier aura around former United Coconut Planters Bank chairman Edward Go these days. Maybe because Eddie Go feels less, uh, stressed.

Mr. Go keeps busy as honorary consul of Senegal, which mainly entails granting visas to Filipino sailors.

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Except for his kind of wispy beard (a la Chinese mandarin), it’s hard to spot Puregold Group founder Lucio Co in a crowd. He mixes well, even with people he has just met for the first time.

Oh yes, he also speaks Filipino the way a Manileño speaks it, which is, of course, barely acceptable to Bulakeños such as his president and chief operating officer Leonardo Dayao.

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These days, Women for Business Council of the Philippines chairman Isabelita Sy Palanca spends 40 percent of her time taking up a graduate program in catechism. When she graduates, Sabsy Palanca intends to be able to defend the Faith and, yes, teach catechism.

When not busy going to school, Ms. Palanca spends 30 percent of her time with her business interests and the balance 30 percent in business advocacy.

For example, Ms. Palanca and her committee on tourism (under the umbrella of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry) has just piloted a "biztour" projected in Vigan and Laoag.

The idea here is to combine tourism with business matching opportunities between the entrepreneurs of these two Ilocos cities and entrepreneurs based in Metro Manila.

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Did you know: Octopus is one of the country’s top three fish/aquaculture exports, in large part because 100 percent of production is shipped out (read: Filipinos wouldn’t be caught dead eating the stuff).

Also in the top three are tuna and prawns.

By the way, foreign-registered fishing vessels have been very blatant in docking at the ports of Davao and General Santos. That’s where they dump fish at prices that local fishermen cannot match.