So, where does Henry Sy get his Hawaiian shirts

Did you know 1: JG Summit founder John Gokongwei Jr. doesn’t believe in geomancy or feng shui. Fact is, none of his buildings have been, uh, aligned to nature’s forces to ensure harmony and, therefore, better luck.

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Did you know 2: SM founder Henry Sy gets his clothes off the racks from his chain of department stores.

For this reason, the chain will never run out of the Hawaiian shirts that Mr. Sy is fond of. (Come to think of it, so does Manila Mayor Joselito Atienza)

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Did you know 3: The daughters of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. founder Alfonso Yuchengco (from eldest, Helen Yuchengco Dee, who runs holding company, House of Investments, to youngest, Annabel Yuchengco, who *runs a travel agency) may have a collective reputation of being "dragon ladies" but they are said to be absolute pussy cats to the woman who took care of them when they were children – their governess.

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Imported live chickens are coming in through Subic. Even with the cost of dressing them factored in, the price for processors as well as fastfood chains – fried chicken seems to be the favorite dish of most Filipinos – is still much cheaper than buying from local poultry growers.

Then again, these cheaper imports may result in the closing shop of more backyard growers, a problem already facing hog growers.

Because the market is flooded with imported pork, the current farmgate price is P52 per kilo. This is an estimated price drop of P10 per kilo at this time of the year when food processors are gearing up for increased production.

At a production cost of P50 per kilo, that means hog growers are making only P2 per kilo.

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Of course, Philippine Savings Bank president Pascual Garcia III didn’t copy the mechanics of his newest product from an extremely popular Taiwan model. After all, it’s the mother company of PSB, Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., which has a strong presence in that country.

Called Flexi Credit Line, PSB’s new product offers, in effect, a salary loan equivalent to up to three months of an applicant’s monthly salary (which must be at least P15,000 a month).

There’s no collateral involved. Best of all, the interest rate of two percent a month on the outstanding balance is significantly lower than the 3.25 percent a month charged by credit cards.

No, Tito Garcia’s team doesn’t have a tie-up with the country’s top 7,000 corporations so it can collect at source. That’s the responsibility of the borrower, who can go to any of the bank’s 110 branches nationwide.

And no, there will be no questions asked as what you’re going to do with the money.

Once the credit line is approved, the borrower is given an ATM card (for easy encashment) and a check book (which can be made payable to the borrower if he/she wants the entire amount right away).