Cosmetic procedures

Custom Commissioner Antonio Bernardo is pretty vague about what he’s going to do next although he’s not expected to move out soon from the P50,000 a month Valle Verde rented house of high school friend and Sta Lucia Realty chairman Toti Carino.

President Macapagal-Arroyo accepted the resignation of Tony Bernardo last Wednesday and has designated George Jereos as officer-in-charge.

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Agriculture Undersecretary Tetchi Cruz-Capellan is off to China to check out the 150-kilo, five-month-old hogs of China. Similarly aged Filipino hogs – that’s the age when they are slaughtered and sold in public markets normally weigh only 90-95 kilos.

By the way, the Department of Agriculture is already in the second season of testing hybrid corn, using China corn as one of the parents, and expects to commercially sell these in February 2005.

The seeds of hybrid corn costs about P2,400 a sack, the same price as the genetically modified seeds being sold by multinational companies such as Bayer.

Here’s the difference though. The production yield of hybrid seeds is 12 times more than that of regular seeds but are not resistant to corn borers. The yield of disease resistant GMO seeds is six times more than that of regular seeds.

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Here’s an irony that advertising agencies are beginning to pay attention to.

The D-income market has a disposable income of up to 30% of its total monthly income. Now that disposable income per family isn’t much but consider that this market account for about 45 percent of the country’s population.

This disposable income could be traced to at least two factors.

On the one hand, the D-income market is the major beneficiary of money sent by relatives working abroad.

On the other hand, this market continues to have simple needs as they as are still learning to aspire for the "grander" and absolutely useless things in life.

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Of Course, Cosmetiderm Aesthetic Laser SurgiCentre founder Manuel Calayan is the current favorite doctor of actress Rosanna Roces.

Dr. Calayan’s relationship with one of his franchisees, Jessa-lyn Lim-Tan, is less harmonious. You see, Je Lim-Tan wants her money back. Basically, that’s the franchise fee of P200,000 and set-up equipment valued by Cosmetiderm at P800,000 ( but which Ms. Lim-Tan claims may be worth less because some of the equipment delivered were not brand new).

Cosmetiderm currently has four outlets, three of which are franchisees.

Under the standard franchise agreement, Dr. Calayan – who is not a member of the country’s association of cosmetic surgeons but has taken short courses on cosmetic procedures in Thailand – and his wife, Rosario Calayan, agree to visit each of the franchised outlets twice a week to undetake both major and minor surgical procedures.

For these twice a week visits, the Calayan couple are paid a monthly retainer’s fee.

Ms. Lim-Tan claims the Calayan couple have not been visiting her franchised outlet twice a week as stated in the franchise agreement, leading to loss of revenues.