10.31.07
Euripidean erudition
October 31, 2007
The battle for the $4.4-million letter of credit that lawyer Vicente Chuidian is claiming from the Philippine National Bank has taken a classical Grecian turn.
“Him whom the Gods wish to destroy, they first drive mad,” Chuidian quoted the Greek playwright Euripides in his motion to cite PNB in contempt of a Supreme Court order to release the disputed facility, originally earmarked by then state-controlled PNB in the early 1980s for a now bankrupt Chuidian company.
But the now privatized PNB, in addition to saying that the l/c had long expired, wants Chuidian to first present the document to the bank before releasing the $4.4 million, conditions which Chuidian could not understand or comply with.
“Talk sense to a fool, and he calls you foolish,” PNB counsel Jose Bernas shot back in his reply, using another Euripides quote. Read the rest of this entry »
Delayed gusher
October 31, 2007
Thinly traded Trans-Asia Oil was at a loss for explanation why its share price not only woke up but jumped over 40 percent last Friday.
According to the grapevine, it was a case of delayed market reaction to Trans-Asia’s October 18 disclosure about its Marantao prospect in the deep waters off western Palawan.
Trans-Asia’s short but pregnant report said the company and its Australian majority partner had reason to believe that the Marantao field has “potential for a significant oil or gas discovery.” Read the rest of this entry »
FORMER plastics king turned hotel tycoon William Gatchalian has finally given up on his shuttered Philfoods Asia operations and now plans to sell or auction the entire food machineries and equipment line installed but never operated in his 50-hectare Valenzuela compound since 2002.
FORMER plastics king turned hotel tycoon William Gatchalian has finally given up on his shuttered Philfoods Asia operations and now plans to sell or auction the entire food machineries and equipment line installed but never operated in his 50-hectare Valenzuela compound since 2002.
The British Broadcasting Corp. is launching 10 more cable channels for the Philippines and the region in addition to its 24-hour BBC World. The popular Top Gear motoring show will apparently be folded within the BBC Knowledge, one of the 10 new channels.
The British Broadcasting Corp. is launching 10 more cable channels for the Philippines and the region in addition to its 24-hour BBC World. The popular Top Gear motoring show will apparently be folded within the BBC Knowledge, one of the 10 new channels.
A still steaming Senator Joker Arroyo has rebuffed the entreaties of the Inquirer, who had dispatched a senior editorial officer in an effort to mollify the maverick senator after being skewered by the tabloid.
A still steaming Senator Joker Arroyo has rebuffed the entreaties of the Inquirer, who had dispatched a senior editorial officer in an effort to mollify the maverick senator after being skewered by the tabloid.
10.29.07
Iglesia goes after Sandigan’s Ong
THE powerful Iglesia ni Cristo has come out in the open not only to prevent Sandiganbayan Justice Gregory Ong from being appointed to the Supreme Court but also to have him unseated from the anti-graft court.
The petition to disqualify Ong from the Sandiganbayan now pending in the Pasig Regional Trial Court has been filed by lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, who happens to also be an Iglesia counsel.
SANDIGAN JUSTICE GREGORY ONG
According to the grapevine, Ong caught the ire of the Iglesia hierarchy after the Sandiganbayan justice convicted military colonel Victor Danao, husband of Pilar Manalo, who happens to be a sister of Iglesia Executive Minister Erano Manalo. Read the rest of this entry »
JAG-ged edges
October 29, 2007
Ten years since his Mondragon Leisure and Resorts Corp. was struck and felled by the currency crisis, former Tourism Secretary Jose Antonio Gonzalez is still fending off creditor banks now going after him.
In the latest setback, the Supreme Court last week upheld the estafa complaint filed by the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank to force JAG, Gonzalez’s corporate initials, to be personally held responsible for the nearly $230,000 unpaid trust receipts issued to Mondragon.
JAG had sought to stop the estafa case from being heard at the Regional Trial Court level, but the high tribunal rejected his defense that he could not be criminally charged for estafa for the bad debts incurred by Mimosa. Read the rest of this entry »
