P100-M election bet clarified

Our Cebu sources clarified the story we wrote last Tuesday about the tycoon who made a P100-million bet that GMA will not win in the May 2004 elections. Actually, it was Bob Gothong who called the bet and not the Ports tycoon we mentioned in this column. According to our sources, the former shipping tycoon couldn’t even raise the amount through the sale of his assets, so he just called off the whole thing. As a result, he has become the laughing stock of the Queen of the South. Our Cebu analyst further informed Spybiz that the ratio of GMA’s Cebu votes against FPJ’s is expected to be five to one come May 10. Furthermore, he revealed that GMA will post a wide nationwide margin of two million votes over her closest contender. Just maybe that’s the reason why the former shipping tycoon backed out of the bet fearing he’ll end up in deeper debt!

No-go for Naga

Corporate colossus Loida Nicolas-Lewis recently invested in a large Cagayan de Oro slaughterhouse. Being one of GMA’s most avid supporters, she has been dividing her time between Manila and New York more frequently. The other day, an Eye-spy spotted her at an exclusive club where she was holding a meeting on a Naga project. Our Eye-spy reported that Ms. Lewis was not too keen on it because she was not convinced on the project’s viability. I guess Roco country won’t be getting direct investments from the Lewis fortune not necessarily by political design, but strictly for business. It’s No-Go Naga for now.

What really makes MBA students strive hard

A top graduate school in Makati is known as the region’s West Point of capitalism. In fact, its faculty and students are known to have very sensitive radar to Philippine economic, social, political, and military developments. Our resident Eye-spy revealed that some of its faculty are even approached for advice by would-be putschists after hours. It seems that they are making alternative plans just in case there is a failure of elections. However, these sensible mentors have warned the adventurists that whatever they are planning will affect the country for the next 25 years. Effectively, their advice is: Go slow and let the democratic process play out. As in Washington, the nexus of politics, business, and the military is in the academe and think tanks. In fact, the Bush Administration got the concurrence and assessments of at least four think-tanks before they invaded Iraq. But more seriously, this school has an entrepreneurship program that any-one with an existing business can enter. Provided they have the werewithal for the P750,000 tuition. Joyce Jimenez is enrolled in the program because of her lingerie line. The faculty has noticed an appreciable rise in attendance, performance, and marks among the members of her class. As in love, war, and politics, it takes a real luscious inspiration to make aspiring Midases step up their performance in the hope that they will leave the school’s halls with something more than a degree. Now that’s value-added education.

Maritime Merlin exposed

Our maritime spyring disclosed that the prime character in the sinking of the M/V Doña Paz and M/V Doña Marilyn fiascoes successfully deceived the bright boys of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (PCCI) transport committee by getting himself hired as a consultant. He also put one over the braniacs of AGILE, where he was hired as a port advocacy expert. This charlatan, whose name reminds one of the more famous New York Mafia families, has resurfaced after a long hiatus. He made himself scarce a few months back after an arrest warrant for him was issued by a court in Ozamis City. He has resurfaced once again. To refresh your memory of this character, he has been on a crusade to deceive unwitting victims in the maritime industry with the line that development can only be achieved if the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) and the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) are removed. Actually, he is very much interested in being appointed to the top posts of either of these agencies. He has been creating a lot of noise, raising a ruckus here and there that these two agencies have been bleeding the Filipino consumer dry by protecting the activities of businessmen in the ports who charge exorbitant fees. Fees which are then passed on to the end user of goods that pass through the ports. He was, of course, exposed eventually as being a farce, a know-it-all who could not even offer a single suggestion to address the ills he himself concocted. He was booted out of PCCI and AGILE after the two organizations learned that they were just being taken for a ride. The final part of this dossier on this character is forthcoming.

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