Sunday, October 18, 2009

Earlier this week a friend had plurked of Conti's being open at Greenbelt.  That plurk prodded me to take the family to Conti's for lunch earlier today.

I dropped them off at the Greenbelt 2 Streetside where Conti's was and proceeded to go around the block to park in GB1.  After parking, I took the walk from GB1 to GB2 cutting through GB5 where Omega and Rolex was.  It
was just a few minutes after I passed that 7 armed men in Bomb Squad uniform entered GB5 under the pretense that they were investigating a bomb threat.  Reports said that as soon as they reached the Rolex shop, they smashed the glass casings and began to loot the shop of the watches on display.  It was learned that this plan had been foiled unexpectedly when a Metro Manila mayor's bodyguard was within the vicinity and shot back killing one of the robbers.

Two hours after the incident, my family and I were ready to leave the area.  Problem was, the car was still at GB1 parking which was still closed at the time.  I texted a guard who used to work for our ad agency and was now posted in GB, inquiring if I could get the vehicle.  He replied to say that he'd accompany me to the carpark so I could take the car out.
At the ticket gate, a different guard was taking down every detail such as my driver's license number and vehicle registration to make sure I wasn't one of them culprits trying to slip out.  The procedure was understandable because at this time, the 6 other culprits were still being hunted in the basement of GB5.  And since GB is just one big maze of entrances and exits, I still had my eyes peeled lest the hoods spring out of nowhere and hijack the vehicle.  Crazy thoughts one may say.  But these are the crazy thoughts which fortify stuff such as Murphy's Law.

Overall, it was good to get out safely.  We live in precarious times.  Thank God for His promise of Divine Protection.

Stray Bullets and God's Protection

Earlier this week a friend had plurked of Conti's being open at Greenbelt.  That plurk prodded me to take the family to Conti's ...

Tuesday, September 8, 2009




Among the many business stories and anecdotes to quote, my favorite would be this one.  It becomes my favorite because it takes place in a setting which is very much a part of me...Makati in the 1970s.

It is also my favorite because it reflects the savvy of a seasoned business tactician.

The person involved is Alfonso Yuchengco. In the early 1970s, hotshot investment bank Bancom Development Corp. wanted to merge Yuchengco's Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) with Far East Bank to create the Philippines' largest domestic lender. Bancom's Sixto Roxas teamed up with Augusto Barcelon in a buyout bid. "Yuchengco made it appear that he did not have the money [to purchase the two men's RCBC shares]," recalls lawyer Leonardo Siguion Reyna, an RCBC Director. "So Roxas and Barcelon quoted their price - $7 million. They never knew what hit them when Yuchengco called their bluff." The tycoon had secretly lined up funding from long-standing banking associates in the U.S.

A tactician's mind and openness to foreign ties are hallmarks of Yuchengco's style. Add prudence. His caution may have held back RCBC's growth, but the conservatism of the nation's sixth-largest bank was highly rewarded as the Asian economic crisis of 1997 reeled on. At that time, RCBC says it has only $165 million in foreign borrowings - 1% of the banking system's foreign loans of $16 billion. The money was lent to clients with a natural hedge, such as exporters. "We were able to lessen our exposure to loan defaults," says RCBC vice chairman Alfonso "Tito" Yuchengco III, the youngest of the founder's eight children.

Whenever I am faced with a situation in business wherein a gun seems to be aimed at me, I have learned from the story above to simply keep quiet and gather the resources needed to meet the threat head-on and strike at the moment when the opposition least expects it.  I guess it's quite like the ending of Die Hard where a shirtless Bruce Willis taped his pistol behind his back so as to create the impression that he was unarmed and vulnerable.  Nice.



-taken from my old blog on Multiply.com

My favorite business story : AY in the 1970s

Among the many business stories and anecdotes to quote, my favorite would be this one.  It becomes my favorite because it takes plac...

 

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