COCKTALES: No more Cabinet appointments for the Concepcions

By: Victor C. Agustin
June 28, 2012 3:57 PM

InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

IF Cory Aquino's long-serving trade and industry secretary Jose Concepcion Jr. would have his way, his namesake son and RFM president Jose III should not accept any Cabinet appointment, period.

"Wala kang panalo diyan (That's a no-win situation)," said the elder Concepcion as he addressed the shareholders of the family-controlled RFM Corp. during the annual meeting Wednesday.

Surprised by his father's revelation, "Joey" Concepcion was quick to clarify that Malacanang had offered him no Cabinet position at all. He did admit, when pressed on, that he had been sounded off, but had turned down, the ambassadorship to the Court of St. James's.

"A lot of good things are happening in the Philippines...and we are so bullish about RFM's potential," said the young Concepcion, explaining his reason for declining the diplomatic posting that many could only dream of.

Sales of RFM's Selecta ice cream brand, for instance, grew by 30 percent last year, and now corners over 70 percent of the market. The stock of Magnum ice cream bar has always ran since its introduction in mid-March, despite its premium P50 price tag.

And, surprisingly, despite Filipinos being rice eaters, sales of White King flour and Fiesta pasta surged by over 50 percent last year.

"The (RFM) team is not yet finished with the job," Concepcion said, referring to the food company's re-focusing of brand portfolio, product repackaging and more aggressive marketing. "We are only 30 to 40 percent along the way."

And to reflect the growing international confidence in the Philippines, Concepcion's Go-Negosyo advocacy has created a new rallying cry, "Pilipinas: Now Is Our Time," and has even chosen, in a nod to P.Noy, presidential cousin Bam Aquino as chief pitcher.

(P.S. Joey Concepcion even has the insider story on the birth of a baby boy of GMA daughter Luli Arroyo-Bernas in Mills-Peninsula Medical Center in the Bay Area.)

SSS spreads boardroom gravy among P.Noy allies

The Social Security System will have to spread the directorships in various private corporations among its nine board members, who are all P.Noy appointees.

"I myself might have to give up a number of board seats," said SSS Emilio de Quiros Jr., at the sidelines of Philex Mining shareholders' meeting Wednesday.

De Quiros made the statement when asked why a career SSS official, executive vice president for investments Edgar Solilapsi, had to relinquish his lone directorship, in the listed Alliance Select Foods, in favor of new SSS commissioner, Ibarra Malonzo, a Liberal Party vice president.

Another SSS commissioner, former Mar Roxas chief of staff Eliza Bettina Antonino, already holds directorships in Philex Mining and Philex Global, along with De Quiros.

A retired BPI/Ayala executive, De Quiros is listed as holding directorships in Union Bank, Belle, BPI Investment Management and four Ayala Life mutual fund companies, in addition to the two Philex companies.

The SSS chairman, Juan Santos, sits on the boards of First Philippine Holdings, PLDT, Alaska Milk, Sun Life Grepa Financial and two Philex companies, among others.

Former Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma, who had been appointed as SSS commissioner to represent ironically the management sector, has already been rewarded with yet another government position, a directorship in the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Zone Authority.

Heard through the grapevine

The feud between Ramos-era Tourism Secretary Vicente Carlos and his six other siblings have gotten worse, with the siblings now attaching to their Court of Appeals pleading a number of embarrassing letters written against Vince by their late father and their frail mother.

Email: cocktales_tv5@yahoo.com