Lesson learned?

With the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) awaiting the announcement of its seventh and last member of the Monetary Board, the five remaining members, and perhaps including the newest one – veteran banker Walter Wassmer – are reportedly trying to institute “reforms” that would ensure that the hiring practices and pay scale of Monetary Board Member (MBM) staff are scrutinized better and the salaries capped within a more reasonable band to avoid future unwanted criticism and scrutiny.

The early departure of former MBMs V. Bruce Tolentino and Anita Aquino, of course, has left a stain on the reputation of the BSP. The institution, likewise, remains under a thin opaque veil of distrust as no official report has been released on exactly what measures and legal action have been taken against the ghost employees and the MBMs who had hired them and who appear to have been given a mere slap on their wrist as long as they agreed to vacate their positions voluntarily.

Former MBM Tolentino, based on his social media post, has seemingly moved on from the embarrassing episode and is continuing on with his normal life. He is currently in Japan with his family. He was the first to hand in his resignation.

MBM Anita Aquino, on the other hand, has remained a “ghost” and is maintaining a very low profile.

Following the revelation of the ghost employees and the internal investigation conducted by the BSP, Governor Eli Remolona Jr. had said that persons involved would be legally charged and that the BSP would take steps to recover the salaries from the ghost employees.

BSP, banking and financial sector observers are, thus, not quite sure if a lesson has been learned and that going forward, such practice would not be condoned, especially, since another, government financial entity,  the Maharlika Investment Corp. is setting a high compensation structure for its officials given the need to hire “highly qualified” individuals to properly invest and manage the country’s first sovereign wealth fund.

The MIC is chaired by the Secretary of Finance, currently Ralph Recto, and the president and chief executive officer is Rafael Jose “Joel” Consing Jr. Directors are Vicky Castillo Tan, German Lichauco II, Andrew Jerome Gan and Roman Felipe Reyes, Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) PCEO Michael de Jesus and Landbank of the Philippines (LBP) executive vice president Carel Halog as alternate board member.

Adopt, don’t buy

BSP Governor Remolona and Deputy Governor Berna Puyat-Romulo, the more visible faces of the BSP who also have a social media presence, are no doubt the best PR faces of the BSP.

Gov. Eli continues to impress everyone with his devotion to his beloved wife Marie, and their simple lifestyle of long walks around their neighborhood in Makati and on their holidays or trips abroad.

Gov. Eli has repeatedly said that he and Marie do not really enjoy social events, and prefer to maintain a low profile with their children and grandchildren. The BSP chief has made it a practice to schedule any evening meetings or socials as early as 5:30 p.m. or 6 p.m so that he can leave by 8 p.m to go home.

Thus, it falls on DG Berna to be the face of the BSP, with her interesting and pleasant posts about her food and restaurant finds, her two children - Vito and Maia, BTS (particularly, Suga) and her pet “pawssion.”

Berna, in fact, is becoming the poster girl for pet lovers, specifically of dogs, and the movement to adopt askals instead of buying. She already has a pug, Biggie, 10 years old; a mixed breed, but mostly beagle named Kahlua; askals Mocha, five years old which her son adopted while working and living in El Nido, Palawan; Tuna and Pizza who were adopted from Pawssion, and has just recently adopted a “senior” askal she has named Lola.

Lola is a particularly special adoption because she had been run over by a vehicle and would likely not have been adopted because of her advanced age and special care. However, to welcome the newest member of the Romulo-Puyat household, Berna treated Lola to a professional grooming session to let her have the five-star experience of a pampered pooch.

Berna may be starting a trend as Visa president Jeff Navarro, in a recent HSBC Philippines event, revealed that his wife recently decided to adopt a shelter dog even though the Navarro household already has five fur babies.

Converge, SkyCable cut a deal?

Although there has been no official confirmation from Dennis Anthony Uy (DAU) of Converge, InsiderPH. last Saturday reported that Converge and the Lopez’s Group’s SkyCable have reached a “technical cooperation agreement” that would now allow the cable TV to operate as a fully Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), which is a system through which TV services are delivered using the internet protocol suite over a packet-switched network such as a LAN or the internet, instead of being delivered through traditional terrestrial, satellite signal and cable television formats.

Just a couple of months ago, DAU had been playing coy to Business Snippets about his interest in SkyCable, even though industry analysts who have been watching Converge’s aggressive push for its fiber optic network, had said that Converge and SkyCable are the perfect fit.

According to analysts, DAU had been eyeing SkyCable as far back as last year, but always with the bottomline in mind that he would try to get the company at “his price.”

According to analyts, what Converge sorely lacks at this point is the last mile retail segment that SkyCable can offer on a silver platter.

Converge, analysts pointed out still cannot penetrate the lucrative household segment that remains closed to the purple telco. Upscale subdivisions like Dasmariñas and Forbes Park, analysts pointed out remain “closed” to the DAU-led telco.