Karaoke king

Did you know 1: The most popular appliance purchased right after any town in the country finally gets electricity is, no, not a television set or a refrigerator, but the karaoke.

Then again, having electricity doesn’t mean there’s that much more things to do (in terms of entertainment) in a fourth or fifth class municipality, is there?

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Did you know 2: The peso’s true value against the American dollar is currently running at P10 more than the Thai baht. This means that if the Thai currency is doing 41 baht to the dollar, the Philippine currency should be hovering around P51.

The difference or premium between that rate and the actual exchange rate is traced to non-monetary factors. In the last months in office of President Estrada, that premium was called the "Erap factors".

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Octavio Espiritu has stepped down as chairman of the board of trustees of the Ateneo Alumni Association.

No thanks to Ateneo de Manila University president, Fr. Bienvenido Nebres S.J., the alumni association under OV Espiritu lured former National Economic Development Authority director-general Cielito Habito to head an in-campus think tank that would develop Philippine-based economic indicators to better track the country’s growth.

Then, there is, of course, that surprise donation of a P200-million building by John Gokongwei Jr., a former director of Far East Bank and Trust Co. when Mr. Espiritu was president and chief executive officer.

As everybody knows, Mr. John’s generosity has been traditionally biased towards the better school, his alma mater De La Salle University. (DLSU’s collegiate basketball team is, after all, doing better than last year’s UAAP champion, isn’t it?)

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Every time they see each other – and that’s often enough when both are in town – Bangko Sentral Governor Rafael Buenaventura would tease Globe Telecom president and chief executive officer Gerardo Ablaza Jr. that Gerry Ablaza owes him one.

Here’s why, Paeng Buenaventura and Mr. Ablaza were seen having lunch in a five-star hotel and, naturally, everybody jumped to the conclusion that Mr. Buenaventura (who was then PCIBank president) was pirating Mr. Ablaza (who was assigned in Citibank-Singapore).

To sweeten the pot, Citi offered Mr. Ablaza the opportunity to come home as consumer banking head, which carries the same organizational clout as heading Citi-Manila’s corporate bank.

Mr. Ablaza did so well in pushing all those credit cards and consumer loans that he caught the eye of Ayala Corp. president and chief executive officer Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala II.

Aside from being a nice guy, Mr. Ablaza’s performance at Globe has been spectacular that he’s one of the Ayala Group’s must-watch boys.