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Aboitiz Equity Ventures may have overtaken Ayala Corp. in market capitalization but the holding company of Cebu's preeminent Spanish mestizos is still closer to Chinese immigrants when it comes to handling money. Just look at how the Aboitizes are paid.
AEV reaped over P21 billion profit last year, and rewarded its top six executives (Erramon Aboitiz, Roberto Aboitiz, Stephen Paradies, Xavier Jose Aboitiz, Patrick Reyes and Ma. Jasmine Oporto) P35.59 million in combined compensation. That works out to about P5.93 million on average per executive.
Ayala, on the other hand, earned P9.39 billion, less than half of AEV, but spent P339 million in salaries and bonuses, nearly 10 times more, for its top 12 executives led by brothers Jaime Augusto and Fernando Zobel. For those without calculators, that works out to about P28.25 million per Ayala executive on average.
The modest Aboitiz compensation extends even up to the bean counters. Ayala Corp and AEV both retain SGV as external auditor, but Aboitiz shelled out to SGV only P352,800 for audit fees last year, while Ayala coughed up P5.3 million, plus another P1.15 million in "other fees."
On other expenses, Ayala Corp last year forked out P222.8 million in advertising and promotions, while AEV paled in comparison with P2.79 million. The Makati-based conglomerate also outdrew the Cebuano counterpart in "entertainment, amusement and recreation" expenses, racking up P185.8 million in charges in 2011. The Aboitizes, on the other hand, looked positively parsimonious, making do with less than P8 million for similar outlays.
No wonder fellow mestizo Ricky Razon of ICTSI loves to rib the Aboitizes as having actually originated from Fujian, and that their real surname is "Amoytiz."
ADB's beautification bonus
Imelda Marcos may no longer be the Metro Manila governor, but it seems some work habits do not change.
Despite the record heat, instant palm trees have been rising from the center island of EDSA from Taft Avenue to Roxas Boulevard, courtesy of the Metro Manila Development Authority.
The MMDA is sprucing EDSA and Roxas Boulevard with foliage and paint for the May 2-5 meeting of the governors of the Asian Development Bank at the PICC, reminding old-timers of the similar rush beautification efforts whenever there were foreign VIP conventions in Manila during the Marcos years.
Even the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office is pitching in in keeping riffraff away. PCSO chairperson Margie Juico is temporarily relocating its offices and the daily indigent dole-outs from the Philippine International Convention Center to the Lung Center in Quezon City for the duration of the ADB meet.
Teves set to run, join Binay
Former Finance Secretary Margarito Teves will run for Negros Oriental governor, most likely under Vice President Jejomar Binay's coalition party.
The 68-year-old three-term congressman admitted that he had been emboldened to seek the highest post in his province given the political vacuum there caused by a series of unfortunate events.
First, the then incumbent governor, Emilio Macias II, died from cancer 17 days before taking office in 2010. The vice governor-elect who filled up the sudden vacancy, Agustin Perdices, also succumbed to cancer January last year, leaving a board member, Roel Degamo, to assume the governorship with less than one and half years remaining in the term.
Degamo, incidentally, has already announced that he intends to remain in the capitol beyond 2013, making next year's elections a three-cornered fight, with Representative Jocelyn Limkaichong confirming that she too wants to be the next governor.
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