Three ladies in his room

Securities and Exchange Commissioner Lilia Bautista is expected to take her terminal leave this coming Monday, when she turns 69.

If Ms. Bautista has some good friends of Chinese heritage, she might want to seriously consider a feng shui advice of celebrating her birthday twice, either as a 68-year-old or as a 70-year-old. You see, the Chinese consider 69 as a year of closure – of a business, a career, or life itself.

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The board of the Development Bank of the Philippines chaired by Vitaliano Nañagas II were surprised when president and chief executive officer Simon Paterno made an unusual request – that the scheduled board meeting last Thursday be held an hour earlier.

Not that the directors – these guys really earn their per diems – complained.

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No, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. president and chief executive officer Napoleon Nazareno has yet to take over the office space of predecessor (and now chairman) Manuel Pangilinan.

For one, Polly Nazareno seems to prefer his other office as CEO of Smart Communications Inc., which is characterized by a more informal and younger culture (where everybody, including senior officers, are addressed by fellow workers by their nicknames).

For another, Manny Pangilinan intends to be an "active" (rather than the usual "presiding") chairman, which means that he intends to fly in very often from Hong Kong (where he is concurrent managing director of PLDT’s majority stakeholder, First Pacific Group) to personally check on the Philippine business.

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There’s digging going on at the Social Security System’s Reclamation property, which stretches from Roxas Blvd. – part of the Center for International Trade Exposition and Missions belongs to the SSS and part belongs to the Philippine National Bank – to Diosdado Macapagal Ave.

SSS president Corazon de la Paz is unavailable for comment (or so claims her cordon sanitaire).

There’s talk, however, that the pension fund has either signed a long-term lease or sold the property to a Hong Kong-based company, which intends to put up a mall on the site to compete with similar nearby structures by Henry Sy’s SM Prime Holdings Inc. and George S.K. Ty’s Federal Land.

By the way, workers on the construction site have dubbed their project, "Hong Kong Plaza."

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Did you know 1: Bank of the Philippine Islands chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala II has three Juan Lunas in his room – all with women as subjects. No, these are not part of the Juan Luna collection purchased by Far East Bank and Trust Co. and donated to the National Museum.

As everybody knows, FEBTC was acquired by and merged into BPI.

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Did you know 2: Hiroshima-based Chichiyasu Dairy Co. is looking at possible investments/joint ventures in the Philippines, a P53-billion dairy market.

The century-old Chichiyasu is a supplier to the imperial household.