May 02, 2009

More Chaka-han

ITEM 1: Word is this ranking officer of an international airline company is about to be unceremoniously "retired" after being caught in the middle of the airline owner's tiff with his own brother. (The brother recently was just stripped of his position in another firm of the airline owner.)

It seems the airline owner isn't pleased with what turned out to be the ranking officer's bets in the fuel market which has resulted in some losses to the airline. The fuel hedging measures apparently had the imprimatur of the airline owner's brother. The ranking officer's rumored impending departure was already preceded by the "retirement" of the carrier's chief financial officer.

ITEM 2: Who is this Treasurer of a very high-profile international bank in the Philippines who is facing charges of sexual harrassment by a female former bank officer? The banking grapevine has been on fire lately after the female bank officer unceremoniously resigned without warning.

According to those in the know, the issue stemmed from a recent team-building seminar the bank held out of town, but towards the evening, Mr. Treasurer, apparently having had too much to drink, suddenly grabbed the female officer's breasts from behind. The woman, described by her former colleagues as "hot", started screaming and cussing the Treasurer, and only then did the guy let go. Thing is, the female bank officer didn't even bother filing sexual harrassment charges against Mr. Treasurer and settled for just an apology in front of everyone who had witnessed the lascivious acts.

Part 2 of the story is when the female bank officer was requesting the bank's upper management to have her transferred to another department. Unfortunately, they didn't give in to her request. Silly girl, however, overestimated her value to the bank and told her bosses to choose between her and Mr. Treasurer. Well, guess who the bosses chose? Female bank officer resigned and is supposedly now filing belated charges of sexual harrassment against Mr. Treasurer.

Part 3 of the story (whew, ang daming updates kasi) is that since the female bank officer resigned, Mr. Treasurer has been posting photos of her on his Facebook profile, in what looks like lambing poses with him (although within a group). His FB pals think it's his way of proving that the female bank officer also had a thing for him, or had a history with him. Dreamer? Well, Mr. Treasurer isn't called FGLG for nothing.

I personally find it interesting that this international bank has consistently been embroiled in scandalous behavior among its bank officers, be it adulterous affairs, sexual harrassment, or financial mismanagement.

ITEM 3: Officials of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas are intent on pursuing their cases against Celso delos Angeles, discredited owner of the Legacy Group, even if he has been found to be sick with tonsil cancer. One official out of disgust was quoted as saying Delos Angeles should be jailed first even before receiving treatment for cancer. Good for them. The BSP shouldn't show any mercy to criminals who rob even the poor blind.

4 comments:

celso said...

Hi Stella, I would like to send you a follow-up story to this, which I hope you can include in your own page. What address should i send it to?
Thanks

Stella Arnaldo said...

Hope it's not an attachment. Just write it down here. Thanks.

You're not really Celso Carunungan are you? ;)

celso said...

Maybe, or maybe not. ;) Of course I don’t want to compromise my identity because of my connection with the banking industry.

I just want to add another dimension to your story about the foreign bank and its treasurer. This international bank, that supposedly upholds the gender issue globally, failed to protect the rights not just of the sexual harassment victims but also of those who had the courage to speak up and testify against the offending officers. A few months before the girl bank officer resigned, two of her colleagues who served as “witnesses” during the height of the HR case were “redundated” by the same Treasurer when the bank slashed jobs globally.

The first “witness” was laid-off (officially, his position was declared redundant) even as there was a younger and newly hired person who could have been chosen in his stead under the last-in first-out policy of the DOLE. Unfortunately for this guy, the FGLG Treasurer chose the young top-commercial model (who apparently was already hired even before her job interview started) over him to sell treasury products to the bank’s corporate clients.

The second “witness” was likewise declared “redundant” even as she was the only one handling the lucrative business that she set-up. The official line given by Mr. Treasurer and his allies was that the bank would cease to offer the hedging products that she was trading (even as her business apparently gave this foreign bank an income of more than P200million last year). Of course, the last I heard was that the bank is still offering these same profitable products to its clients.

A couple of years ago, a lowly secretary filed a sexual harassment case to a branch manager of this international bank. The case ended the same way as the recent one – the bank’s management cuddled and protected the offender while the disgruntled victim ended up leaving her job.

I am neither gay nor a feminist straight guy; my wife even thinks that I can be a chauvinist _ _ _ sometimes, but I do realize an injustice when I see one. Just to let you know . . .

Stella Arnaldo said...

Got your comment aka Celso. Just double-checking the info w/ my other sources. Thanks!