What really happened at the church parking lot?

Depending on whom you talk to, Asia Capital Equities majority stockholder Frank Borromeo is now confined at the Makati Medical Center either because he met with an accident or because he tried to kill himself at the parking lot of the Sanctuario de San Antonio in Forbes Park.

Asia Capital Equities has been issued a cease and desist order (its second) by the Philippine Stock Exchange currently headed by Ernest Leung.

Basically, many of the clients of the stockbrokerage firm have complained that Mr. Borromeo had not followed their instructions, selling their shares of stock without their knowledge. Worse, Mr. Borromeo would then, uh, advance the proceeds for his own use, selling the shares of other clients so he could remit the money due to clients who did instruct him to sell their shares of stock in various listed companies.

To date, Mr. Borromeo is said to owe his clients about P80 million.

Mr. Borromeo and his wife-dermatologist (a daughter of former Chief Justice Marcelo Fernan) come from socially prominent Visayan families.

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Depending on whom you talk to, Philip Morris (Phils.) Inc. managing director Chris Nelson had clinched the buyout of Sterling Tobacco Co. for either P400,000 or P4 billion.

At either price, Philip Morris is certainly not buying the factory – which burned down several years ago – but rather low-priced brands such as Bowling Green, Miller, and Stork, whose production has been contracted out to La Campana Fabrica de Tabacos.

You see, these Sterling brands have been in the market place even before 1997, the cut-off year used by Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Guillermo Parayno to upgrade the tax classification of similarly priced but newer brands such as those produced by former Philip Morris partner, La Suerte Cigar and Cigarette Factory, and by a joint venture between former Ilocos Sur Governor Luis Singson and a Taiwanese group called Metro Tobacco.

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Bank notes 1: During the annual tiangge organized by the Development Bank of the Philippines for its small-and medium-sized clients, former bank directors such as former National Food Authority administrator Emil Ong and former Department of Finance assistant secretary Felicidad del Rosario dropped by to do some serious shopping.

Former bank president Remedios Macalincag also took a detour from her job as the chairman of the audit committee of Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (which is DBP’s neighbor).

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Bank notes 2: Bangko Sentral Governor Rafael Buenaventura is one of the first users of a coconut-based dietary supplement called Fiberdyn, which will be officially introduced during tomorrow’s Asian Ethnic Food Festival.

Produced by Manila Herbal and Essential Oils Co., a subsidiary of the D.M. Consunji Group, Fiberdyn is one of three coco-based products which Josefa Consunji-Reyes is introducing. Joji Consunji-Reyes is a close friend of Paeng Buenaventura’s wife, Victoria Rufino-Buenaventura.