Lucio Tan’s pinkish one bracelet

In the last three months, Lucio Tan has never been without a pinkish one bracelet on his wrist, not because he wants to be a fashionista or because he has suddenly changed his sexual preference but because it’s a precious gift from someone special.

You see, that particular bracelet was once worn by a holy man, a Buddhist who has founded temples all over the world. The belief is that anything that once touched the holy man’s body – and that includes the bracelet – for even a short period of time carries with it a little bit of the holy man’s aura and goodness.

These tokens cannot be bought nor asked for. They are given away to a chosen few.

So close is Mr. Tan to these monks that three high-ranking ones flew in from Taiwan last November just to attend the wake of Mr. Tan’s mother. In appreciation, Mr. Tan’s wife, Carmen Tan, left for Taiwan middle of this week to personally thank the monks.

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There’s talk that PureGold founder Lucio Co has incorporated a foundation named after his late father, Luis Co Chi Kiat.

The younger Mr. Co., who continues to wear a small black pin on his shirt as a sign of mourning, intends to launch the foundation’s first project – high school and college scholarships – this June, close enough to the second death anniversary of his father.

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Expect Government Service Insurance System president and general manager Winston Garcia to do some provincial walkabouts in the coming months. No, Mr. Garcia isn’t running for public office.

What he intends to do is open satellite offices – the first one was opened early this month in the capital of Aklan and a second one will open soon in Vigan, Ilocos Sur.

Here’s the logic. Using the in-place computerization system (for which Mr. Garcia has been criticized), government workers, particularly those outside Metro Manila, do not have to go far to have their loans and claims processed and released.

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Oh my. The recent election of the Philippine Independent Power Producers Association was a fire starter. Nobody even cared who would chair the board – until this year.

Basically, it was a toss up between Mirant Phils.’s Paul Hake and Bauang Private Power Corp.’s Ernesto Pantangco. In some eyes, it was a choice between foreign and Filipino IPPs, between whom Energy Secretary Vicente Perez Jr. backed and didn’t back.

Ernie Pantangco won.