The Cory Aquino Swatch

WHEN I saw the Cory Aquino Swatch, I thought it looked familiar.

(Photo from the web)

Aha! Ding-ding-ding!



The Philippines Centennial Watch (1997) with a black strap (Photo from www.squiggly.com) The one of Cory Aquino's though just has fatter rays of the sun, but it's essentially the same design.

Hmm...I wonder if Swatch/Gift Gate will sell me just a strap of the Cory Aquino Swatch as it never came out w/ a replacement strap for the RP Centennial edition. hehe. Yup, I still have the old watch courtesy of Ayala Corp. and since a few years ago, I had been wanting to resurrect it because suddenly patriotic stuff were back in fashion after Collezione C2 launched its RP map shirts.

I'll probably be dropping by a Swatch store soon to make usyoso.

Pumapatak na naman ang ulan...

...is how the APO's song goes ano? Well, while it was pouring torrents on Monday, I was seeking refuge at the Trinoma. Ok, not quite. I was actually on a mission to exchange some stuff my mom and I bought at a store a few days before (wrong size), and to get a shot of Red Mango's frozen yoghurt, so I deliberately made my way to that mall. (More on Red Mango later.)

(Photo from VisitPinas.com)

As I was on my way up using the escalator in the North Parking vicinity, I felt drops of water on my head. I looked up, and there on the ceiling was a growing water stain. It was a leak no doubt from the rain overspout (or whatever thingamajigger contractors call it).

Hmm...didn't the Trinoma just open two years ago? Well, if this is the kind of shoddy work Ayala Land employs in its buildings these days, I no longer wonder why its income plunged by 50 percent in the first quarter of 2009. Would you buy a condo from the company if it gives you leaky ceilings? Didn't think so.

Like I've said before, and other mall visitors have confirmed it as well, Trinoma is really a depressing mall to go to despite the massive amounts of foliage and bright lights in its stores. Parking is confusing as well as the store locations, it's just chaotic. There are no automatic flushes in its toilets' while the better-smelling pay lounges are located in way out of reach places, instead of central locations. And it's freaking noisy! It's starting to become another regular SM Mall w/ its loud music, and with its bad acoustics you'd think you were in Divisoria instead!

It's so not like an Ayala mall, I tell you. I mean, if you go to an SM Mall at least there are no surprises. You know what you're getting. Loud and crass. Trinoma tries to reek of class but fails miserably bec. the owners think the rich folk from Caloocan and QC have bakya sensibilities. Thus the architecture and interior design. WTF, coño!

* * * *
So is there nothing to love about Trinoma? I admit there are a few, w/c is why you will probably find me there every other week, esp. if there's a new film in town. For instance, I like the variety of goods that Landmark supermarket offers (and btw, it has self-flushing toilets in its regular restrooms). And I enjoy watching films in the mall's roomier cinemas.

Some of the restaurants are noteworthy (Cyma, Thousand Cranes Shabu-Shabu, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Cibo, Peking Garden), and it has Piandré Salon where I get my pedi, and Toni & Guy Essensuals where I turn to for a haircut. And did I mention Red Mango frozen yogurt?

(Red Mango's stall in the hallway fronting Toni & Guy)

Red Mango is a franchise from surprise! South Korea. But it really became a hit when the company expanded in the U.S. So far, it has three local outlets - Trinoma, Eastwood, and Megamall. I love it because it's creamy and tart. Wonderful mouthfeel, but if you don't watch out, will give you brainfreeze! Brrr. (I had two servings of each flavor the other day and ended up w/ a slight headache.) I like both the original and green tea flavors, straight up, no sprinkles.

(My small serving of green tea flavor.)
I'm surprised that the stall in Trinoma never runs out of customers. Who would've thought that Pinoys would learn to appreciate yogurt? Could be that we're really more health conscious now or just bec. the product is still new in the market, and something different from the usual ice cream concoctions we've been used to? It has great price points - P80 for a single scoop for the original (P85 for the green tea), plus P20 for a single topping (fruits, nuts, or cereals). Try it.

(The toppings of Red Mango. I counted about 25 in fruits, nuts, cereals.)
(ATTENTION WHITE HAT GUYS: Okay I know you were the first in asking me to try your frozen yogurt dessert. I promise to get to you soon and give the readers the lowdown.)

Major hiccup at the stock market

I NEVER thought Ayala Corp. would drop to P200 per share this fast. Parang it was only yesterday that it was selling at P250. But the market crashed today, dropping by 10% which triggered the circuit breakers to halt the trading session. Whew! Then after resuming, the market slipped even further closing at 1,713.83 points. This was the single biggest day drop since July 1987.

Banco de Oro was probably the hardest hit, falling by 23% to P22.75. It had just reported its third-quarter loss because of the covers it allocated to its credit exposure in Lehman Brothers. Belated reaction dontcha think? But actually ever since BDO merged with Equitable, the income of the unibank has been unsteady because of expenses owing to the merger and the expansion of some of its units. So if you think about it, the situation isn't really that bad. The situation was just aggravated by the losses from Lehman's. And tapos na 'yan. The losses are booked. Period.

But the first nine months of the year actually was still profitable for the bank. Check out the press statement here. It was just lower than the same period last year. But Christmas looks promising because I know the BDO consumer lending business has been very strong. Loans were up 35%, deposits too at 32%, and from what I know from my sources, the bank is still in a hiring mode. So in short, there is no reason to worry, especially if you are a BDO depositor. In fact, with the extensive holdings of the Sy family in a diverse array of businesses, we are assured of a steady stream of income from any of the Sy companes. I even once told a friend that the Bangko Sentral can very well fold up, but not BDO. These guys have money. Lots of it.

Okay. Now I'm waiting for Ayala Corp. to fall to P120, then I'm buying. If you've got extra cash kids, check out those stocks. Many of them are already trading at a bargain. I am predicting an upswing after the Nov. 4 elections in the U.S. and Barack Obama is proclaimed the winner. So start looking through the stock market page, but choose wisely.

Shit!

THAT'S what government probers are saying caused the explosion at Glorietta 2. I think that's a load of crap. From the little I've read about how excrement (human or otherwise) can produce methane gas...it would take tons and tons of it to actually explode.

Consider our open dumps like Smokey Mountain or the landfills in Montalban and Cavite...no methane gas explosion has ever occurred in those areas despite the mounds of garbage sitting on them. Of course one could argue that the dumps are out in the open and have ventilation and G2's basement was not. Still, I would side with the UP chemists who rule out the gas explosion. Are there any chemists working in the PNP Crime Lab? (Yeah, yeah, I know this is no Gil Grissom/CSI setup.)

I'm interested in what the Australian and American investigation teams are going to conclude. I doubt though if they would release their own findings to the public and possibly risk humiliating the obviously inept investigation of our own police force, especially if their findings are contrary to what the latter has concluded.

Look, I have no love lost for Glorietta mall management and its incompetent security force. But I severely doubt that in terms of construction and structural maintenance, Ayala Land, the mall owner, would be remiss as well. For the company not to install a proper ventilation system in their basement where all the sewage tanks and pipes run through is a violation of building codes. It would never have been allowed to open any of its malls if this were the case, especially in a strict city like Makati. (Btw, give those Castilaloys some props...they acted very wisely in footing the hosital bills of those injured.)

So I can't blame Ayala Land management for disputing the PNP report, and still calling the explosion a "bombing." I supppose this also has to do with the company's insurance claim...if government probers believe neglect caused the explosion, the company won't be paid. But I think it goes beyond that. I think Ayala Land owners know something we don't. I know that even if the Zobels and the wanna-be Castilaloy Presidentita speak the same language that they are not friends. Yeah, there are two Castilaloys who are BFFs of the Presidentita, but they sure aren't Jaza nor Fernando.

UPDATE: Fabulous Jessica thinks I may temporarily blinded by my lust for Fernando Zobel (just him hon, not your mistress Jaza) that's why I'm still harping on my conspiracy theory. Hahaha. Seriously, I'll take the word of the UP chemists over our police force anytime. I hope I'm wrong but you really can't put anything past the Presidentita's administration these days. People will always believe the worst about GMA and her dogs simply because she is the most vile manipulator that has ever sat in Malacañang. And even if it were a bombing, this still doesn't absolve Ayala Land of any liability. It will have to pay for its shoddy security measures.

Btw, the Brits aren't discounting the terrorist angle still. And surprise! Makati Mayor Jojo Binay who is no good friend of the Zobels either, want an independent investigation into the blast considering the conflicting and confusing statements the PNP is making. What strange bedfellows in this time of a highly-charged anti-GMA atmosphere no?

Crappy investigation

(Debris from the blast at G2.)

I THINK what's scarier than Ayala Land/Glorietta mall's security lapse and the explosion itself is that our government probers still don't have a clue on what caused the blast. It's been four days since an explosion tore apart the Glorietta 2 mall and here they are still with a hundred and one theories on what caused it. The NCRPO says it was't a bomb. Another theory says it was caused by the reaction of methane and diesel but UP experts doubt that considering there was no pungent smell of rotting eggs in the blast's aftermath, a telltale sign of methane explosion. Since Saturday, all you hear from the mouths of government officials (one trying to hog the limelight after the other) is a bunch of "could haves". It could have been this, it could have been caused by that...anovayan?!

It's either our government probers really don't have the capability, either through a lack of adequate equipment or skills, to investigate cases of this nature, that they need the help of foreign experts, or they are deliberately fudging the investigation. I hate to cast aspersions on the credibility of our police investigators but really, who trusts the police these days? I'm sure there are a few honest cops out there. I just hope they're part of the investigating team.

Granting our police force has no capability to investigate cases like these, then maybe the government should do something about it. Sure, getting overseas funds for infrastructure projects is great (unless they're tainted by corruption like the ZTE-NBN deal), but the police force needs funds as well to beef up their skills/training and their crime labs' equipment. I always feel distraught whenever I watch CSI/CSI New York because it shows how our local police crime labs pale in comparison to those abroad. The cops in the U.S., for example, have access to a lot of equipment and their staff are not only trained as police but also as chemists, doctors, etc.

(The blast was powerful enough to tear a hole through G2's ceiling.)

There have been numerous local criminal cases that indicate how collected evidence have already been tainted either through neglect on the part of police probers, or contamination due to improper handling by the staff. DNA samples even have to be sent to UP labs or to the States just for proper processing. How embarrassing this must be for the Philippine National Police or for the National Bureau of Investigation! Something must be done about this soon.

*****

Planting evidence or planting a story? A story in the Inquirer says some men in Army Rescue uniforms were prevented from "planting evidece" in the blast area. Hmmm...why the government keeps getting on the case of the military (remember Saturday's story on a C-4 bomb causing the blast?) is something worthwhile to investigate. Pasok Trillanes!

(Photos courtesy of a concerned citizen who sent them to ABS-CBN. More blast photos here.)

Musings on the Glorietta blast

I'VE been covering a conference at the Mandarin Oriental for the past two days so it's only now that I've had the chance to write an entry in my blog. I was particularly looking forward to Friday's ending of the conference which would allow me to enjoy to relax and enjoy a spa treatment in the afternoon. Past one o' clock in the afternoon, however, Charisse, the hardworking director of communications of Mandarin walks by our table and asks if we've heard of the bomb blast in Makati. She said she just got a text message about it. So we all said no but just the same, I checked my two cellphones to see whether I had any SMS about it.

Then in comes the First Lady of Guam, Joann Camacho, on her cellphone talking to someone asking if she was ok and that to come home immediately. We found out later that her daughter had been at Glorietta 2 when the blast ocurred and was showered with splinters. Thank God the kid was alright. Mrs. Camacho was visibly shaken and was hugged tightly by my Guam editor Maureen, assuring her that everything would be okay.

I called this friend of mine who supposedly has contacts with some intelligence sources to find out what was happening but he couldn't give me any details. Of course, no one could say it out loud but the mindset of everyone yesterday was on a terrorist attack. Then I checked the Internet to see whether there were any stories out on the bomb blast already. The initial reports were an LPG tank had exploded. It was clear, later on in the evening, that it was no ordinary LPG tank explosion because of the amount of structural damage the explosion had caused.

I only realized later that I had been going to Glorietta the past two nights because I had to make an emergency purchase of some toiletries, and used part of the mall as a short cut to North Park where I ordered a congee dinner for those two nights. Man, what a difference a day or two makes.

*****

This may sound bitchy but I'm sorry, I really don't have any respect for Ayala Land management at all, especially after my stuff was stolen while walking in the Activity Center last year. To me, the company's security measures have been nothing but posturings and projections. They had sniffer dogs supposedly, but really, there were not a lot of security officers patrolling around. Most of them were just posted at the entrances of the mall watching out for what? Do these people actually know what a bomb looks like? Do they know what suspicious characters look like or act?

When I fell victim to petty thievery last year, there was no effort to even check the closed circuit cameras around the area until I asked, and even then, Ayala Land got back to me after a month. You think anything will turn up from their security tapes this time because of the blast? I highly doubt that. Even previous to my experience, there were already reports going around of thieves in the mall but it didn't look like management beefed up its security. They didn't even know how to deal with my case when I first reported it to the nearest security guard I found. So what drills is Jaime Ayala talking about? If you look at the videos posted on the Internet, there was no effort from mall security to actually cordon off the area as you could see people lazily even walking around. The first order of business should have been evacuate, and seal the area. Yet there were people just taking photos and videos from their camera phones, or just basically hanging about!

Customers pay a lot for the prices on goods bought at this mall but get very little security in return. While Ayala Land management will expectedly say that it was an accident and nobody wanted the blast to happen, it cannot shirk away from its responsibility of securing its tenants (who pay very high rental fees) and its patrons. How funny that they say there was no security lapse. Obviously there was otherwise, how could the bomb or bombs be snuck in? Magic? Teleportation? Beam me up Scotty! No matter who the culprit is (and I don't believe for a minute it's the handiwork of terrorists), Ayala Land clearly has culpability in this matter. If I were a tenant at this mall, I'd demand a refund from mall management equivalent to the opportunity losses I suffered yesterday.

*****

Even before Sen. Trillanes pointed his fingers at the Presidentita GMA and her henchmen being behind the Glorietta blasts, the man on the street and your friendly neighborhood cab drivers were already thinking the same. I spoke to a few later in the evening. Pinoys aren't stupid although our politicians make us out to be. (If this was the handiwork of terrorists, by yesterday evening, they would have claimed responsibility for the blast already because they are a proud bunch.)

Of course you can say it's just another conspiracy theory but really, the public, especially the masa have come to distrust the Presidentita and her people. We can't put anything past her. Almost everyone believes she is capable of doing anything just to perpetuate herself in power and refocus the public's attention away from her government's latest foibles. As usual, the Presidentita's text brigade (Hello NTC: Check out 0905-346-8994) is actively trying to spin the bombings against her critics especially politicians in the opposition. While she tells them to stop politicking and taking advantage of the incident, her handlers are doing it for her. Amateurs talaga!

UPDATE: This statement is no surprise. I'm just amazed at how long it took Esperon and company to say it and blame everyone they could think of. Gads, Presidentita, san bang kangkungan napulot mo ang mga taong ito?