GLOBE ASIATIQUE mus t be the shortest-lived client that the ex-law firm of Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., Marcos Ochoa Serapio Tan, has had so far.

Most founding partner Louise Araneta-Marcos said she only met Globe Asiatique president and chief executive Delfin Lee when he and his daughter visited the Ortigas office on Aug. 24.

“There was never a formal or written engagement of our firm’s services vis-a-vis Globe Asiatique and/or Mr. Delfin Lee—in fact the letter (to Globe Asiatique creditor Philippine National Bank, seeking clarification to the alleged default) was sent as an accommodation for a mutual friend who was responsible for the said introduction,’ Marcos wrote Cocktales, in reaction to the Sept. 1 column.

The law firm met Lee again last Thursday to inform Lee that, on account of Marcos’ husband, Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., being the chairman of the Senate urban planning committee, the firm could regrettably not take him or his real estate company as client so as to forestall any potential conflict of interest.

According to the grapevine, Lee and Globe Asiatique are now being represented by Philip Sigrid Fortun, the same counsel of the Ampatuan clan.

PNB, on the other hand, is being represented in the litigation by Villaraza Cruz Marcelo & Angangco.

Two incredulous Bangko Sentral officials who asked not to be identified by name denied the claim of Banco Filipino vice chairman Perfecto Yasay Jr. that the central bank had exempted the troubled thrift bank from submitting annual financial statements and other regulatory reports.

Yasay, a former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman who ran for vice president under Brother Eddie Villanueva on a good governance platform, made the bold assertion during a recent testimony before Makati Regional Trial Court Judge Oscar Pimentel.

Yasay also claimed the same reportorial exemption was extended to Banco Filipino by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The year still has nearly four months to run its course, but Manila Broadcasting Corp. is already confident of surpassing its 2009 income and revenue record, after reporting that its first-half revenues jumped to nearly P486 million from P315 million in the same period last year.

First-half profit, though slim when compared to other industries, tripled to P25.5 million from the P8.2 million in January to June 2009.

No wonder, dzRH’s Elpidio “Deo” Macalma can afford to take two-hour buffet lunches at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza these days.

Tan has so far been non-committal since his elder brother, taipan Lucio Tan, is still in somewhere in China and is not expected to be back until probably this weekend.

TAIPAN Lucio Tan and hotel magnate William Gatchalian are in the thick of a legal battle over the control of Plastic City, the 84-hectare, 44-warehouse compound in Valenzuela that used to be the largest integrated plastic manufacturing complex in the country.

Gatchalian, whose son Sherwin is the mayor and another son Rexlon is one of the two congressmen of Valenzuela, has so far managed to stall the efforts of the Tan-owned Philippine National Bank to foreclose Plastic City.

Judge Nancy Palmones of Valenzuela Regional Trial Court Branch 172—wife of radio broadcaster Angelo Palmones—has issued a writ of preliminary injunction restraining PNB from taking over the compound.

But PNB has more luck in Manila.

Judge Thelma Bunyi-Medina of Manila RTC Branch 32 denied Gatchalian’s prayer for injunctive relief, thus paving the way for PNB to foreclose on a 1,808-square-meter vacant property at the corner of M.H. del Pilar and A. Mabini streets and Quirino Avenue.

By PNB’s account, the Plastic City group of companies have racked up over P600 million of bad debts as of end-2009; Gatchalian and his 10 related companies obtained the real estate mortage before the Asian currency crisis over a decade ago.

The crisis, and the subsequent trade liberalization, felled the plastics operation; the emptied factories and warehouses within the compound were later leased out to third parties.

Gatchalian, whose airline Air Philippines had also been taken over by Tan, has so far also managed to dodge PNB from taking over his two Waterfront hotels in Cebu, thanks to timely credit lines from Philippine Business Bank of Zest Airways owner Alfredo Yao—not taipan George Ty as earlier reported in this column—and from Puregold’s Lucio Co.

Makati Regional Trial Court Judge Benjamin Pimentel does not normally get upset in the courtroom, but last Tuesday, the phlegmatic judge was finally ticked off when five accused Indian-Filipinos again failed to show up for their court date.

The occasion was supposed to have been the withdrawal of a criminal complaint filed by the Social Security System against Ashok and Sunil Karamchandani, Narain Ladharan, Dayal Lalwani and Mohan Dargani for non-remittance of SSS contributions of their workers.

It was not the first time that the five accused were absent from the hearing, prompting Pimentel to wonder aloud if the five “Indians” were not abusing Philippine hospitality, aside from breaking SSS laws.

Pimentel gave the five accused 48 hours to explain their absence, or face contempt charge.

Little is publicly known of the five, except for Sunil Karamchandani, who is known as the owner of Gamestop stores in Park Square and Trinoma, in addition to being a poker champion among the local Sindhi community.

Also spotted in the former British colony over the same weekend trying to keep a low profile was former Defense Secretary Renato de Villa, accompanied by his family.