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THIS
early, Development Bank of the Philippines president
Reynaldo David must be receiving proposals to lease
space once the bank’s two-story commercial project on
its head office property (read: the prime location at
the corner of Gil Puyat and Makati Avenue with a
high-green fence) is completed by the end of the year.
Right
now, it’s not exactly clear whether David is looking at
just two or three big lessors (read: something between
the fast-food stores proliferating in the vicinity and
the high-end outlets of Manila Mandarin Oriental Hotel)
or a food court concept.
****
DID you
know 1:
Okay, so
President Arroyo talked to the rice traders about two
months ago to keep rice prices stable. At that time,
rice was retailing at a high of P1,750 per cavan. Last
month, the price went up to P1,900. Today, a cavan can
go as high as P2,000.
Maybe
that’s why there’s locally-produced rice retailing as
high as P52 a kilo at the sari-sari store level, more
than double the P25 retail price of US rice and the P18.
25 price of NFA rice.
DID you
know 2:
In large
part because of oversupply, San Miguel Corp.’s
Monterey-branded meat chain has recently cut down the
price of beef by as much as P30 a kilo. Said another
way, Monterey has more beef for sale than there are
buyers.
Then
again, even at lower prices, beef is still more
expensive than pork or chicken.
DID you
know 3:
Because
of lack of space, the many small pieces of gold, silver
and ivory in the collection of the Intramuros
Administration are currently jammed into closets inside
a room without windows.
Most of
the pieces (read: all properly catalogued and insured)
were purchased during the time of administrator Jaime
Laya.
****
MORE and
more Filipinos based in Taiwan have become uneasy about
their job tenure since direct flights between Guangzhou
and Taipei started on Friday.
About
100,000 Filipinos currently form the backbone of
Taiwan’s manufacturing, electronics, and assembly
sectors. This can, of course, change if Taiwan decides
to move more of its factories to China.
An
alternative that has always been open to Taiwan is
Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines, which is
less than two hours by air and eight hours by ship
(read: that’s from Taiwan’s shipping center of Kaoshiung
to Port Irene in Cagayan de Oro).
Between
2007 and 2010, Taiwan is projected to invest $36 billion
in the region. |
