The Yuchencgco Group of Companies (YGC) is looking at acquiring a part or all of the Philippine American Life Insurance Company (Philamlife), the local arm of American Insurance Group (AIG), which was recently effectively bought by the U.S. government through a bailout of $ 85 billion by the Federal Reserve. AIG was one of the biggest victims of the U.S. sub-prime mortgage crisis and resulting property downturn, which sunk investment bank Lehman Brothers. YGC is one of the largest and most diverse conglomerates in the country, with investments in banking, insurance, transportation, education and construction. The group is headed by Ambassador Alfonso Yuchengco.

AIG is the world’s largest insurer and was deemed “too large to fail”. However, it is expected to announce a massive restructuring any time now. In an official statement, the Fed said it intends to “facilitate a process under which AIG will sell certain of its businesses in an orderly manner, with the least possible disruption to the overall (U.S.) economy.” This presumably means its overseas assets would be first to go. Read the rest of this entry »

Updated April 2 : Check the list of 2008 Philippine Bar Exams Results.

Today is the 4th Sunday of the bar exams and for the record-breaking 6,533 examinees, this marks the culmination of all their efforts throughout law school. Each examinee harbors in his or her heart the burning wish to be among the 20% or so who will make it or roughly 1 out of 5. While the arduous trek is done, the takers are in the unenviable position of not knowing whether they have arrived at their longed-for destination. The 2008 Philippine Bar Exam results will not be released until another 6-7 months and the agony of waiting is oftentimes more painful and distressing than knowing the news outright, whether it be good or bad.

I read that the present crop is exceptionally resilient, there having been no drop-outs from among the bar takers during the entire four weeks. This includes an 81-year old man taking the bar for the first time. Read the rest of this entry »

The recent Philippine Blog Awards drew hundred of bloggers to the wind-swept venue at the One Esplanade at the Mall of Asia complex last Sunday for an evening of celebrating the best in the Pinoy blogosphere. Food and drinks were good and plentiful. Senator Mar Roxas was the keynote speaker. Jayvee Fernandez gave an insightful closing speech on the transformative experience of blogging.

Despite technical glitches and other missteps common to events of this nature, a good time was had by all. Or so it appeared to me. I had a great time just people-watching and marveling at the variety of creatures who call themselves bloggers.

Congratulations to the winners and kudos to the organizers.

There will be detractors, of course, who will find fault in many aspects of the awards and the occasion itself. Much as Filipinos revel in awards-giving, an undertaking such as this would not be complete without one controversy or another to spice up post-event discussions. Read the rest of this entry »

Inquirer.net reports that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will meet with financial and banking experts in New York this week to find out more about the U.S. financial crisis. As if she’s in any position to do anything about it.

Her ostensible reason is to attend the 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly. The visit had been previously canceled due to pressing domestic concerns. This was before the Lehman Brothers collapse. Suddenly, she decided to push through with the trip. Read the rest of this entry »

When I learned early in the week about the turmoil in Wall Street and that the collapse of Lehman Brothers would probably impact on a number of local banks (around seven, as it turns out, plus AIG subsidiary Philamlife) my first impulse was to make panic withdrawals. But then I quickly realized I had nothing to withdraw. And this caused me to panic even more.

Which brings me to my point. I’m in the position of the many millions of Filipinos whose reaction to the worldwide financial paroxysm would be “Huh? What crisis?”. The Philippines is a nation in perpetual crisis. How can things possibly get worse than they already are ? Read the rest of this entry »