Bunye: There is life after SDA

I WAS confronted recently by a good friend following the latest reduction of the Special Deposit Account (SDA) rate to 2 per cent across all tenors.

“At the rate the Monetary Board is slashing the SDA rate, there will be nothing left for us retirees,” he groaned.

Geronimo: Another feather in JH Lhuillier's cap

IN THE afternoon of May 10, 2013, Jean Henri D. Lhuillier, president and CEO of PJLhuillier Group of Companies and Honorary Consul General to the Philippines of the Republic of San Marino, was awarded the degree of Doctor of Humanities Honoris Causa by the Board of Regents of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines. Already famous for his unstinting support for sports, his inspirational management style, and his unqualified devotion to family and generosity with friends, the conferment of the exalted academic degree was but icing on the cake.

Geronimo: A suggested reading for election winners

WINNERS of the elections, national and local, to be held this coming Monday (May 13), would do well to spend some time, soon after the euphoria of victory subsides, reading Why Nations Fail: the Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty.

Economists Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, joint authors, submit that the origins of power, prosperity and poverty lie in the political and economic institutions that various nations establish for themselves.

Geronimo: How long the clear skies of May Day?

THIS May Day, I cannot help but recall the Labor Days of not so long ago, when with calloused feet I strode steadily over uneven roads of hot asphalt, cement, or dirt, and with right fist clenched tirelessly punched, exactly 45 degrees forward and a several inches up, against the stifling air and scorching sky.

Bunye: Exemplars of excellence

IN CELEBRATION of Metrobank’s 50th anniversary, the Metrobank Foundation recently launched three coffee-table books that highlight the best of the Filipino.

The three books are “MADE of Gold,” “10 Outstanding Filipino Teachers” and “Metrobank Foundation Exemplars.”

Geronimo: TOAP 2013 convention raises the bar

THE Trust Officers Association of the Philippines (TOAP) annual convention had always been from way back the late 70s a must-attend event for trust people.

Bunye: Our everyday heroes

AS PART of the celebration of Metrobank’s 50th anniversary, the Metrobank Foundation recently launched three coffee-table books that certainly make us proud to be Filipino.

The three books are entitled: “MADE of Gold,” “10 Outstanding Filipino Teachers” and “Metrobank Foundation Exemplars.”

Geronimo: Insurers’ need for staying power

“SUSTAINABILITY” or, in older English, “staying power” is not a stranger to Reynaldo De Dios. He has been at it for 10 years, addressing positively his and his co-practitioners’ need to learn more about their craft and the sciences behind it.

This year, on April 24, at the Intercontinental Hotel in the City of Makati starting at 8:30 in the morning, he will be conducting, not just the 5th nor just the 7th, but instead, already the 10th Philippine General Insurance Summit.

Bunye: Beware of ATM Skimming

WE MAY have heard of the term “ATM skimming”—a criminal endeavor involving an unwitting ATM user and a technologically savvy perpetrator in recent new reports. According to Dr. Johnny Noe Ravalo, Managing Director of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the suspects carry on with this modus operandi by installing a seemingly “chameleonic” device made to blend with the ATM card slot.

This device acts like a photocopying machine, automatically “memorizing” the ATM card’s magnetic strip, which contains the victim’s vital banking information.

Letter to the editor: The wonder boy is a con artist

EVERY time I read a Meralco and Maynilad Water Services (both monopolistic public utilities controlled by Manuel V. Pangilinan) rate increases, I get this overwhelming urge to ask an average wage earner from Metro Manila to check his wallet and see if it is still in his pocket.

Just because Manila (including the rest of the country) is painfully sweating with the usual summer temperatures is not an excuse nor a justification to launch rate increases.

Geronimo: Upheaval at Philippine Sherwood Forest

TWO great trees fell on Philippine business' Sherwood Forest recently. First to fall, literally was Felipe B. Alfonso "Fil Alfonso" to all, a lawyer who got his Bachelor of Laws from the Ateneo de Manila law school, but better known to Philippine business as Professor Emeritus and smiling icon of the Asian Institute of Management. He had an accidental fall on Good Friday, was operated on the same day, served to recover Black Saturday, regained some consciousness on Easter Sunday, and finally went up to receive his just reward the Friday before Divine Mercy Sunday.

Bunye: Thrift Banks – For broader horizons (Concluded from last week)

DURING the recent Chamber of Thrift Banks (CTB) annual convention, BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. and former CTB President Gigi Montinola had these words of advice for the CTB.

Specifically, the chamber could broaden its horizons by elevating its vantage point. In other words, thrift banks should see the big picture.

Geronimo: The so what of Easter

THREE books constituted my reading last week (March 28 to 30, inclusive). And, as the season befits, the focus of my interest was the meaning, if any, of Easter. What do recent studies suggest can be extracted from it?

Because of his recent resignation, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's two part work entitled "Jesus of Nazareth" was first in my list. Part One dealt with period starting with Jesus' baptism at the Jordan River up to the Transfiguration; Part Two was about the Holy Week, from the entry into Jerusalem up to the Resurrection.

Bunye: The Thrift Banks

I HAD the privilege of witnessing the changing of the guards of the Chamber of Thrift Banks during CTB’s recent annual convention.

TG Limcaoco, president of BPI Family Bank, took over the helms of the chamber from Patrick Cheng, president of HSBC Savings Bank.

Geronimo: Jesus' Last and Our First Supper

WE, Filipinos, like to eat. Eating is always part of our celebration of important personal events. We eat when we are happy; we eat when we are sad. We eat at anticipations; we eat at endings. We take eating on special occasions for granted and, for that reason, do not find it unusual that Jesus Christ had His last supper before His passion started with a betrayal and a kiss.

Bunye: Filipina ‘Food Heroes’ (Concluded from last week)

IN THE last week’s column, I wrote about Oxfam’s list of Filipina “Food Heroes” to celebrate International Women’s Month.

Oxfam is an international humanitarian and development confederation of 17 organizations networked together in more than 94 countries. It aims to “build a future free from the injustice of poverty.”

Bunye: Filipina ‘food heroes’

IN CELEBRATION of International Women’s Month, humanitarian and development organization Oxfam has come up with a list of 10 extraordinary Filipina “Food Heroes.”

“Unknown to many, feeding the country -- and 93 million Filipinos -- also falls on the shoulders of women,” said Joseph Edward Alegado, Oxfam in the Philippines media and communications officer.

Letter to the editor: Pope Francis

THE election of Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio to the papacy is great news.

Bergoglio is a genuinely spiritual soul, and a man of deep prayer who tends to accent growth in personal holiness over efforts for structural reform.

Geronimo: AMLA's evasion of the tax issue

SECTION 11 of Republic Act No. 10365, the latest amendment, of so far four, of our Anti-Money Laundering Law, Republic Act No. 9160, inserted a new Section.

The new Section 20 reads as follows:

Geronimo: Gaping Holes in our AMLA's Net

ESCAPING the blacklisting of our country during last month's plenary of the FATF ought not to lull us into complacency. Some more fine-tuning and recalibration need to be done in order to make our anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing laws fully compliant with what the FATF considers to be acceptable international standards.

Towards that end, I suggest we compare what we so far have with the Model Legislation on Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism ("Model Legislation").

Speak Out: Dissecting Rep. Cynthia Villa's view on the Filipino nurse

By Jeff Vasquez, RN, MN

EVERY nurse from the Philippines is now furious over Rep. Cynthia Villar's statement on the nursing profession. In a one minute question and answer portion, she was asked to react on her role on the failure to close questionable nursing schools which even led to the resignation of some nursing technical expert members on the panel. In her answer, I think the three phrases that pierced through every nurse's heart are: 1) That nurses do not need to finish the BSN programme; 2) That aspiring nurses have only one desire and that is to become a room nurse; and 3) That nurses do not have to be very good.

Bunye: A fair warning to wayward bankers

DURA lex sed lex.

A former president of a closed rural bank learned this well-known legal adage the hard way after the Supreme Court declared his earlier conviction for estafa through falsification “final and executory.”

Geronimo: The AMLA’S Got You Covered

When our high-level delegation to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) submits this week the country’s compliance with the group’s recommendations made last year, the members, I guess, will be muttering beneath their winter mufflers, soto voce, “Very Filipino”. Meaning, “completed at the last minute, held pending for a long-time, and even after such a long wait, not as complete as desired, but clearly well-intentioned, and the apparently best compromise possible for the moment.” My bet is despite the delegates’s frustration, Philippines will not be dragged down this February to FATF’s “Uncooperative List.”

Bunye: Special banking laws annotated

ECONOMIC and financial education has always been an important component of the Bangko Sentral’s goal of developing an inclusive financial system that can ultimately empower the different segments of our society.

Bunye: Growing your small business (Concluded from last week)

IN LAST week’s column, I shared wonderful advice from some of the country’s most accomplished and hardworking micro-entrepreneurs.

These businessmen and women have been recipients of the Citi Micro-entrepreneur of the Year Awards (CMA) in the last 10 years since the program was created.

Bunye: Growing your small business (First of Two Parts)

LAST week, I received a special coffee table book entitled, “Small Steps to Success: Celebrating 10 Years of Partnership with Microentrepreneurs.”

The book featured 10 microentrepreneurs who have received the “Citi Microentrepreneur of the Year” Award since the program was conceived 10 years ago.

Geronimo: Ongpin's Inconsistency Galore

BANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Nestor A. Espenilla ("Espenilla") must have filed with the Office of the Ombudsman by now his counter-affidavit to the Complaint-Affidavit of Roberto V. Ongpin ("Ongpin"). Ongpin accused him of violating Section 3(e) of the Republic Act No. 3019, otherwise known as the Anti-Graft And Corrupt Practices Act.

Bunye: A tradition of excellence

LAST year had been a great year for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. And here’s significant proof: BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. has been chosen as the Central Banker of the Year 2013 for Asia-Pacific by an international publication.

The Banker, a monthly publication owned by the Financial Times Group of London, held the Central Banker of the Year Awards to celebrate bank officials who “successfully steered their countries through the economic turbulence of 2012.”

Threats to cyber-freedom, domestic and foreign

(The opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of any other individual, company, organization or government agency, nor those of the publisher.)

Geronimo: Collaterally damaged by Ongpin's rage

THE umbrage that was recently let loose by Roberto V. Ongpin, the late Ferdinand Marcos' Minister of Trade and Industry from 1979 up to the inglorious end of the Marcos rule in 1986, is understandable. Ongpin had heretofore been perceived by many, myself included, as stately clothed with the aura of untouchability, if not invincibility.