FOUR YEARS ago, Ailene Co got a space at the Greenhills tiangge to start her own fashion store. She named it U.R.U. which means exactly how you spell it: you are you. “Wear what you like and what suits you. Women should wear what they feel like wearing, and not dress to impress others,” explains Co, who studied at the Fashion Institute of the Philippines in Ortigas Center.

Co started with bags. “It’s one of my passions and the easiest way for me to get into business,” she says. Since she also loved clothes, especially those that fit her budget, she also sold casual trendy clothes that can be worn by women in offices or when going out for a gimmick. “We’re producing all original locally made casual clothing for day in, day out activities,” Co adds.

Co regularly goes to Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Bangkok to check out fashion styles and does some designing herself although she also has designers working with her. She has sewers do the samples and production is subcontracted to suppliers.
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THE HOTTEST brand nowadays in the Philippines is Manny Pacquiao. Yes, the boxer who won the victory over Oscar Dela Hoya and put the Philippines in everyone’s consciousness last Sunday is a mega-brand worldwide.

From Mike Tyson and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to the barrio people in the provinces, Pacquiao has a following. The crime rate in the country goes down to zero whenever he has a fight. A-list cinemas and city halls around the country broadcast his fights and these places are fully packed when Pacquiao steps on the ring.

And talk about Pacquiao being an endorser. From beer to muscle pain relaxant, cellphone to karaoke mic, energy drink to a hamburger place, and much more, Pacquiao has become a dream endorser. He is number 3 on Wikipilipinas’ Top 10 Philippine Celebrity Endorsers, just below actresses Kris Aquino and Sharon Cuneta.
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UPON entering the lobby of the Midtown Wing of Robinsons Place Manila, you can’t help but notice the giant red umbrellas beckoning you to this cozy nook just behind the escalators. It’s Art’s Cream Gallery, a 20-seater gelateria run by the same group behind the Italian ice cream brand Fiorgelato.

Far from it just being a scooping station for gelato (an Italian ice cream made of 100 percent fresh milk), though, Art’s Cream Gallery has elevated ice cream serving to an art. Credit goes to renowned stylist Rachy Cuna, known for his floral architecture, who has thought of a myriad ways to serve ice cream.
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By Lauren Wong*

I had gone to the filming of a CCTV 9 talk show on Sunday expecting to hear Jet Li chat about his martial art prowess. What I got instead was a talk about social entrepreneurship in China. Jet Li focused the great majority of the hour-long filming on his pet project, the One Foundation.  Since the talk show was filmed for an English-speaking audience, the kung fu master was not as eloquent in his philosophy as he could be in his native tongue. Nevertheless, the passion towards his foundation and towards the work of social entrepreneurship was a great sign of what potential China holds.

My work with Ashoka Philippines over the summer, as an intern seemed so different from my semester of studying and speaking Chinese, getting lost in the Beijing sprawl, and trying to familiarize myself with a culture that was so different from mine back in Chicago. I had almost gotten out of touch with the goings-on in the citizen sector until Jet Li’s unexpected talk grounded me back to what I believe is truly important.

Jet’s philosophy on social entrepreneurship was, at times, a little contradictory and unclear, but his underlying theme was reasonable.  He began by explaining that there’s a scale of good people, with Bill Gates on one end of the spectrum and Mother Teresa on the other.  Gates represents business and Mother Teresa represents the heart.  Where did Jet Li stand?  In the middle with a combination of transparent business practices and passion for what he called the “global family”.
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“ALMOST MEANINGLESS.” This is how Congressman Roilo Golez of Parañaque City described the Philippine centavo when he filed a resolution recently calling for a study into the possibility of retiring the following denominations: 1-centavo, 10-centavo, 25-centavo, and 50-centavo.

According to Golez, cash transactions can be rounded off to the nearest peso. Anyway, vending machines do not accept centavo coins, and producing coins cost more than their face value.

This news story came to mind as I went about my errands today. At the bakeshop nearby where I bought a loaf of bread, the cashier asked me for an additional P0.75 so she can give me a P5 coin as change. At the supermarket a few minutes later, the cashier asked if I can add P2.50 to the money I gave her so she can give me a P20 bill as change.
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