Even as San Miguel president (and strategic genius) Ramon Ang delivered a knockout punch to his corporate competitors by triumphantly raising the hand of boxing hero Manny Pacquiao to proclaim him as the beverage and food conglomerate’s new and exclusive endorser, at the other end of town a seemingly distressed young woman was holding a hastily arranged press conference to allege that Pacquiao had stopped providing financial support for the two year old boy that she claimed he fathered.
The timing was uncanny. In fact so eerily uncanny that there has been much speculation on the corporate grapevine that a shadowy business hand might have been at play here to smear the gloss on San Miguel’s important announcement.
If there is even an iota of truth to the juicy talk that is permeating caf? society and the corporate cocktail circuit on this matter then things really have come to a sorry and yes, bitchy pass on the local business front.
Allegedly manipulating something that is strictly personal between two private individuals to so cynically perpetuate its own agenda against a business competitor who (simply by putting its money where its mouth is) keeps beating you to the post on takeover deals has to be the absolute pits.
So for the sake of all the parties concerned let’s really hope this is nothing more than idle chatter.
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With tens of thousands of young people sandwiched around a stage in the Baywalk in Roxas Boulevard last Saturday for a rock concert that preceded the Close Up Lovapalooza ’06 pre-Valentine’s Day kiss-in, there were some nervous official eyes watching over the proceedings in the light of the tragic stampede a week earlier at the ULTRA complex in Pasig City.
But congratulations to Unilever who, in cooperation with the Manila City Hall and the Manila Police District, enacted a meticulous plan to ensure the evening went off smoothly with no limitations on the enjoyment quotient.
Unilever corporate development director Chito Macapagal was never too far from the action with sheets of folded papers in his pocket detailing the measures to be taken in any emergency.
In fact Macapagal told us that the crowd control and security plans in place that night were formulated weeks ago, and hardly needed to be revised even in the light of what happened in ULTRA a week earlier since they were considered more than adequate to meet any contingency.
Meanwhile Unilever Chairman and CEO Howard Belton and his wife Cristina went up on stage to smack lips in the corporate cause of bettering the entry from last year’s event in the Guinness Book of Records for the most number of kissing couples assembled in one place.
Guess that’s a whole lot of pre-kissing Close Up toothpaste thrown into the bargain as well.
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A highlight of the recent Australian National Day reception at the Forbes Park residence of Ambassador Tony Hely was the singing of the Australian national anthem— Advance Australia Fair—by the RCBC Choir, who for good measure also rendered a spirited version of the Philippine national anthem.
As it happens the RCBC Tower in Ayala Avenue also happens to be where the Australian Embassy is located.
So the RCBC Choir’s melodious rendering of the two national anthems at the reception got some guests (in jest, we think!) wondering aloud whether the participation of the choir in its national day celebrations was a proviso written into the Australian Embassy’s lease contract.
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