President earns less than her EVPs

Did you know 1: Social Security System president Corazon dela Paz earns less than her executive vice-presidents. The SSS president earns P100,000 a month while her EVPs earn P350,000 a month.

Okay, okay, so money was not a consideration when Cora dela Paz, the former head of auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers/Isla Lipana, joined government.

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Did you know 2: There’s talk that 23 more municipalities will be upgraded to cities by the end of the year. At an average of P3 million per new city in internal revenue allotment, that means less IRA for each of the country’s existing 117 cities, assuming the budget for local government units does not increase.

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Did you know 3: BMW Phils. president Joerg Breuer has gotten a marketing concession from the Munich head office, in part because BMW holds a 63-percent share of the premium car market in the country.

The ad materials will still come from Germany but the message will be given a Filipino twist.

Mr. Breuer holds a doctorate in marketing, so that entitles him to use the honorific "Dr." before his name.

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President Macapagal-Arroyo has already signed an executive order that resolves the ownership issue of Cebu’s 300-hectare South Reclamation Project (think Carbon market) between Cebu City and Talisay in favor of the capital city. The titling is expected to be completed by end-2005.

Cebu has, of course, learned some lessons from the North Reclamation Project, which hosts a huge SM mall. Unlike NRP, the bulk of which was sold to private investors which have yet to develop their properties, SRP will be leased (read: you don’t develop your property, your lease will be terminated).

Of the 300 hectares, 60 hectares will be developed into an industrial zone. The balance will be developed into a mixed commercial-residential area.

SRP was developed with a 10-year yen loan (at the peso equivalent of P3 billion) from Japan Bank for International Cooperation. Right now, that loan plus interest is worth P6 billion. The first payment of P500 million due this year has been paid.

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Philippine Life Insurance Association, Inc. is embarking on a four-month awareness campaign, largely to help the public distinguish between open-and closed-ended pre-need plans.

The pre-need business has suffered an 18-percent drop in business for the first four months of the year and the drop is expected to be exacerbated once the May and June figures (read: angry parents and their relatives during the enrollment period) come in.

PLIA is currently headed by The Philippine-American Life and General Insurance Co. president Jose Cuisia Jr.

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Former Finance Secretary Jesus Estanislao has yet to give up on good governance in the public sector. In fact, Jess Estanislao’s Institute for Solidarity in Asia has just signed up eight Philippine cities to undergo the public governance system or PGS scorecard.

Basically, each city and ISA have worked out specific benchmarks, a process that has taken several months. At the end of, say, a year, each city would then rate itself on how well it has done in terms of good governance and responsible citizenship.