High maintenance family

One of the reasons why Energy Secretary Vicente Perez Jr. likes scuba diving is he can’t be reached by cell phone under the sea.

Then again, Vince Perez’s boss, President Macapagal-Arroyo, also likes to scuba dive.

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Bank notes 1: Bangko Sentral Governor Rafael Buenaventura knows exactly how much of his six-year term he’s got left. Go ahead, ask him.

Today, Paeng Buenaventura will have one year, 11 months, and eight days "to go". If you pop the question after lunch, Mr. Buenaventura will, for sure, revise that to one year, 11 months, and 7.5 days "to go".

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Bank notes 2: Banks have been treating this guy with more loans than his regular income with extra special care. Fact is, they continue to lend him more money so he can support the lifestyle that he and his children have gotten use to, particularly in the United States.

Here’s why. The man’s prospects might – and the operative word to remember here is might – significantly improve soon which will, of course, immediately impact on his creditor-banks, both friendly and hostile.

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Bank notes 3: Have you ever wondered why government banks (such as Land Bank of the Philippines) and banks where government has a considerable investment (such as Philippine National Bank and United Coconut Planters Bank) don’t have much of a Chinese-Filipino client base?

For outsiders, the top three reasons why not probably sound silly but, then again, even the presence of Lucio Tan in PNB’s board hasn’t helped much in bringing in big business from Binondo.

Mr. Tan’s friends, for example, would rather do business with his other bank, the privately owned Allied Bank Corp.

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In a speech before members of the Indonesian Economists Association, former Finance Secretary and current president of the Institute of Corporate Directors (Phils) Jesus Estanislao made some interesting observations about the Philippines and our relationship with the International Monetary Fund.

• Politics – "In the Philippines, we did ‘politicize’ the Fund. We got into Fund programs, especially during the Marcos years, mainly because we wanted it as an ally in promoting needed structural reforms."

• Economics – "We should train our focus on only a few issues at any given time, where we can make a dent within a defined and limited time range. Institutional capacity to grapple with critical issues tends to be limited in economies such as the Philippines."

• Civics – Given the power and decision-making structure of government, the officials doing the negotiation seldom enjoy absolute authority to make final commitments... The chance of having to make compromises on the way becomes bigger. And the prospect of commitments being watered down also becomes taller."