An easy P5B

Bank notes 1: Lucky Xavier Loinaz. Upon his retirement this year, the current president of Bank of the Philippine Islands will become vice-chairman, which should give him more time for collecting – what else? Watches and to talk to his orchids (or maybe not, since he won’t be so stressed then).

Mr. Loinaz’s counterpart at Ayala Land, Inc., Francisco Licuanan III, is also retiring this year. Upon retirement, Kaiku Licuanan will stay on as ALI consultant.

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Bank notes 2: United Coconut Planters Bank president and CEO Jose Querubin has just completed a 10-year roadmap or master plan – the time frame given by "investor", Philippine Deposit Insurance Co., to buy back P12-billion worth of assets.

As everybody knows, PDIC bought outright another P8 million in bad loans, releasing, in the process, P5-billion worth of provisioning for bad loans required by the Bangko Sentral.

Relending this newly available cash has enhanced UCPB’s financial performance for the entire 2003 (and has won brownie points for Jojo Querubin without too much effort).

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Bank notes 3: For Carl Gustini, moving from AIG-Australia to head Philam Equitable Life Assurance Co. is definitely a promotion. Despite being a more developed economy, the AIG operation Down Under is smaller than the Philippines.

Since it opened for business last month, PELAC has introduced an interesting marketing concept to the local bancassurance business – the fielding of licensed financial sales executives who draw fixed salaries and are assigned to all 400 branches nationwide of Equitable PCI Bank.

The idea here is to advice clients on what is the best insurance product for his/her needs rather than to just clinch. That means getting better educated and highly qualified people who are, needless to say, better paid.

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The Philippine Educational Theater Association has gotten seed capital from European organizations to put up a permanent theater near St. Luke’s Hospital in Quezon City. Performing in the ruins of Intramuros has ambience going for it but is a washout every time the rainy season comes.

The job of executive director Beng Santos Cabangon and her board of trustees (which include Cecilia Garrucho) is to raise the counterpart funding, not just for the construction of the theater but also for its educational component (which include going to schools and to the countryside).

PETA is, of course, associated with the late theater and film director Lino Brocka and with supporting Filipino playwrights, including Palanca winners.