Bitch squad

In the span of six days, photo-shy Lucio Co has opened two PureGold outlets, the seventh and eighth. In both cases, Mr. Co easily blended in the crowd, unnoticed except by the store’s suppliers.

PureGold’s eighth store – this is the one along J.P. Rizal in Makati – opened yesterday with the usual celebration of mass, followed by hordes of shoppers who bought at least something before leaving.

And why not? The prices were incredible and, in some cases, were even cheaper than Divisoria. Get this. Nine individually packed panties for P100. Three pairs of socks for P69.50. Seedless watermelon for P39 a piece, not a kilo, mind you.

Next year, PureGold intends to open at least two more outlet in Quezon City and one outlet in Cavite. The Shaw outlet will be expanded to about twice its current size.

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Since Tina Fernandez-Caclangan returned to the Securities and Exchange Commission this year, she’s been hounded by a bitch squad who questioned her qualifications other than her closeness to Commissioner Fe Eloisa Gloria.

You see, Ms. Fernandez-Caclangan’s bio-data hasn’t been impressive enough to merit to her return to the SEC as a director.

After leaving SEC the first time around, Ms. Fernandez-Caclangan joined the Urban Bank Group as a junior officer and, when the bank closed, moved on to an equally junior position at the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp.

These days, the bitch squad has something else to complain about. Ms. Fernandez-Caclangan is said to be pushing a friend currently working with Union Bank of the Philippines for the position of assistance director (under her, of course).

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Former Finance Secretary Jose Isidro Camacho is scheduled to leave the country for a vacation with his family – by now, the whole world knows two of his six kids are taking undergraduate studies at Harvard University in the United States – on Dec. 17.

Hopefully, Lito Camacho’s current "foot in mouth" illness will have been cured by the time her returns middle of next month.

During his stint in government, Mr. Camacho was known for his reticence, citing more than once the need to be careful with what he said in public because, well, both local and foreign markets might react negatively.

As a former investment banker in charge of the Philippine operation of, first, Bankers Trust and, then, Deutsche Bank, it was also pretty much standard operating procedure for Mr. Camacho to keep his mouth shut if his current and potential clients were to trust him.

Then again, perhaps that is not a qualification in Mr. Camacho’s next career move.