THE Aboitiz clan, Cebu?s counterpart to Manila?s Zobel de Ayala, announced yesterday a leadership and generational change within the family empire, following the mandatory retirement of Jon Ramon Aboitiz as president and chief executive of the Aboitiz Equity Ventures.

Jon Ramon, who turned 60 last year, is being replaced by his second cousin, Erramon, 52, who was executive vice president and chief operating officer of the listed power, transport, banking, and real estate conglomerate before his assumption of the CEO title.

Credited for steering the relatively unknown Cebu conglomerate from its 1994 listing into becoming one of the powerhouse index stocks of the Philippine Stock Exchange, Jon Ramon is being elevated to the position of chairman of the conglomerate.

The previous chairman Jon Ramon?s younger brother, Roberto, 59, will apparently remain as chairman and chief executive of AEV subsidiaries Aboitiz Construction Group, Aboitizland, the family?s four economic zones in Cebu, and FBMA Marine, the export-oriented ship building subsidiary.

Erramon, on the other hand, is also known as the elder brother of Enrique Jr., popularly known as Endika, the roly-poly chief executive of Aboitiz Transport, and key member of the rumored Castilaloy kitchen cabinet of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Money-go-round

? Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, who is also president of Serendipity Holdings Inc. in his private life, has just acquired a Manila Polo Club share, along with Federal Land president Alfred Ty, son of Metrobank owner George S.K. Ty.

? The staff of the Philippine branch of the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei found themselves padlocked out of their Telecoms Plaza office in Makati yesterday, following an unresolved rental and utilities issues with their landlord.

Heard through the grapevine

The endless rounds of parties with friends and extended families, good food, holiday rush and unseasonably wet weather proved fatal to former Crown Equities president Oscar Lopez Dee and Vivant Corp. director Antonio Garcia, who both succumbed on Christmas Eve.

But what is sadder is what had happened to the 36-year-old son of Tito and Patis Tesoro, Jose Manuel Carlos, who collapsed and died right in the Hong Kong airport on Dec. 19 as he was about to relocate himself and his family to a new corporate job in the Chinese colony.

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