Shaking down Tony Boy

With the surge of suspensions of local government officials especially those perceived to be administration opponents like Pasay Mayor Peewee Trinidad and Iloilo Governor Niel Tupaz, there’s a growing perception that the administration is engaged in a political shakedown, especially now that the elections are coming. Even businessmen are said to be targets and one of them is billionaire Antonio "Tony Boy" Cojuangco. Tony Boy was implicated in an alleged coup plot last year, for which he has already denied involvement.

But perhaps because he’s now involved in media, being the owner of ABC 5 and Newsbreak magazine, there is a strong perception that he is being pressured either to withhold support for opposition candidates or, on the other hand, to support administration bets or worse, blackmail him for money. Recent events seem to feed the perception that somebody is trying to shake down Tony Boy, especially when news broke that two programs at ABC 5 — "Dokyu" and "Frontlines" — were cancelled, and that Newsbreak magazine’s last printing will be its Feb 12, 2007 edition.

But according to Tony Boy, he himself confirmed to us that in fairness to GMA, he has not received any calls from Mrs. Arroyo, nor has he heard from the Department of Justice. Tony Boy confirmed that he is really reformatting ABC 5 to make the programming tighter, putting in new shows and canceling those that are not making money. As for Newsbreak, he said they’re closing down the magazine because it wasn’t viable. It had difficulty attracting advertisers and was mostly dependent on grants from foundations. It was perceived to be arrogant with some people, with complaints that the magazine would interview people then use these interviews against them. They did that, too, even to those who were supportive of the magazine.

Anyway, I’ve known Tony Boy for over 20 years. He is an extremely intelligent man, graduating summa cum laude at the Ateneo and obtaining his MBA at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. He’s a businessman through and through and abhors politics. He may have his own political leanings, but not to the extent of getting involved in coup plots. He has never fancied himself to be a kingmaker, much less a coup plotter. With the kind of wealth he has, Tony Boy can very well afford to buy his own island and proclaim himself king, with the luxury of choosing his own loyal subjects. He don’t need coups.

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$25-million friendship

Ramon Arnaiz and Carlos "Linggoy" Araneta were childhood friends growing up as classmates since grade school at De La Salle. In fact, they were the best of friends. In 1999, ATR Kim Eng, of which Mr. Arnaiz is part of, loaned P157 million which was invested in Professional Mutual Holdings and Delaware-based LBC Global. The loan plus interest amounted to more then P350 million. In the agreement, LBC had to go for an initial public offering in three years. If not, they agreed to return ATR’s 10 percent investment. For some reason, Linggoy Araneta never fulfilled his part of the agreement. Even when Ramon pleaded with Linggoy to return the money and simply forget the whole thing, Linggoy refused — forcing Ramon Arnaiz to go to a Delaware court in the United States (where LBC Global was listed) to seek redress. It was during the trial that they discovered Linggoy Araneta had transferred key assets of LBC Global to members of his family to the detriment of other shareholders like ATR Kim Eng. The judgment which came out recently has ruled clearly in full favor of the ATR Kim Eng group headed by Ramon Arnaiz, ordering Linggoy Araneta to pay more than $25 million in damages, legal fees and other expenses.

This is a clear case of friendship gone sour. The moral of the story — when you lend money to friends, be sure they can pay you back. Otherwise, just give them the money as donation. I’ve always believed that you should never lend money to friends especially if they cannot afford to pay it back. Just give them what you can afford to write off as charity. As they say, it is better to lose a friend by not lending him money, than to lose a friend and money, too — in this case, plenty of it.

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Newsbit: Successful Il Divo concert

The big success of the Il Divo concert last Saturday evening is attributed to the organizers, VicVic Villavicencio and Francis Lumen. Obviously the sponsors were a main factor for its success, like Smart/PLDT together with The Philippine STAR and Joey Concepcion’s companies. In spite of the heckling, GMA seemed oblivious and enjoyed the concert.

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