No chaperone

Did you know 1: Energy Secretary Vicente Perez Jr. is aware that Iloilo is projected to have prolonged power outages two years from now. Vince Perez is also aware that it takes about two to three years to put up a power plant.

To date, however, there is no new power plant being built in that part of the country.

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Did you know 2: Two lawmakers, both with ambitions for higher office in next year’s elections, have been holding dinners and onward meetings in the shadow of the Ninoy Aquino statue in Makati.

The meetings are, uh, unchaperoned.

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Of the average gross sales of P400 million a month generated by Chowking Food Corp. nationwide during the hot months (roughly the last week of February to the first week of June), halo-halo account for 25 percent. The rest of the year, the dessert best associated with Bulacan and the province across the river, Pampanga, generate 10 percent of monthly sales.

Then again, Chowking president Rufino dela Rosa knows his halo-halo. Raffy dela Rosa is from Bulacan, where he is better known as Ruping dela Rosa.

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As part of its strategy to penetrate Asian countries where it has no manufacturing facilities such as South Korea, San Miguel Corp. led by chairman and chief executive officer Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. is seriously thinking of taking out export insurance from the Trade and Investment Development Corporation of the Philippines (which is also known by its brand name, Philexim).

The Philexim insurance is linked to French insurance giant, Cofas, which will pay San Miguel if the Asian company it deals with accepts its beer shipment and then does not pay up, either because the Asian company does not want to pay or cannot pay.

An added advantage to doing business with Tidcorp, which is headed by Joel Valdes, is that its guarantees carry a zero risk weight and are, therefore, cheaper than those offered by other financial institutions.

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The PICC Forum was blessed last week and can now be leased for humongous events such as the next "wedding of the year" or trade shows.

The Forum, which is, of course, attached to the Philippine International Convention Center, is the biggest such space for lease in Metro Manila and cheaper, too (because the construction cost was reasonable).

As everybody knows, Bangko Sentral Governor Rafael Buenaventura has been trying to pass on the PICC to the national government as a property dividend instead of the annual cash dividend.

Earlier talks of transferring the PICC to the Department of Tourism hid a snag because Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon frankly doesn’t know where he’s going to get the money to maintain it.

Then again, the DOT has already accepted a Bangko Sentral donation – this time a warehouse in Intramuros – for a light and sound museum.