email: bg31650@yahoo.com

Guess who's laughing all the way to the bank

With the coming elections inching closer to the homestretch, some people are pleading poverty. But on the contrary, here's one man who is laughing all the way to the bank. Yes, Virginia, how lucky can he get. Without beating around the bush, this man, hotelier Anos Fonacier is grinning from ear to ear these days because money is going out of his ears. Not that he is flaunting his new riches, Truth is, he is rich enough and there seems to be no stopping this old man from making more money.

Lest Fonacier will castigate this BGlante for utilizing his newsman's instinct of being too nosy of what otherwise is a confidential information. But what we can do. Ignore such juicy tidbit that is worth all the ink and newspaper space in this paper? No way. This nosy newspaperman doesn't care a bit if the subject of this column will deny to the hilt that what this Bglante is talking is all fairy tale or pure fiction. Anyway, the grapevine is awash with talks that Fonacier has just sold part of his vast landholdings in Cebu for half a billion pesos.

The property where the Tambuli and Cebu Beach Club resorts sits was reportedly sold to an American resort developer. Just how believable this transaction is that a source in Hongkong, a wife of one of the owners of the Shangrila chain of hotels and resorts told a cousin who owns the Bohol Tropics Resort about the impending sale of the Tambuli property of the Fonaciers. That was month ago and a little birdie told this BGlante that the sale was already perfected and the upfront money was already transferred from the account of the American developer to Fonacier's own bank account. The earnest money was something like 50% of the total amount involved and the rest will be paid as soon as all the documents are in order.

This BGlante's own sleuthing leads to the discovery of this information that in fact, the law firm that handles the transaction representing the American interest of the huge sale was identified as Cromwell and Burnham. Based in New York , this law outfit is one of the most prestigious law firms in that part of the United States . And the taxes being paid after the sale was consummated was a whooping P60 million.