Coming fresh from an event and rummaging through week-old papers, this. Quite old and certainly not very pleasing news:
New Year Shock: San Miguel kills orchestra, choraleBy Pablo Tariman | Inquirer | 02/05/2007
Late last month, instrumentalists of the only corporate-supported orchestra in the country were summoned one by one by the big bosses who informed them of the non-renewal of their contracts. Same thing happened to the members of the San Miguel Chorale.
Many of the orchestra and chorale members did not get separation pay. It’s not known what happened to Ryan Cayabyab, the executive and artistic director of the San Miguel Foundation for the Performing Arts.
Insiders say that San Miguel Corp., the biggest food and beverage company in Southeast Asia, was “more inclined” to support basketball. San Miguel has four basketball teams in the professional league - San Miguel, Ginebra, Coca-cola and Purefoods.
The latest income statement by San Miguel shows the conglomerate in the utmost pink of health. In November, it reported that its nine-month net income grew 18 percent, to P6.17 billion from P5.22 billion in the same period last year, boosted by its strong local and international beer operations and strong sales by its Australian dairy unit, National Foods Ltd.
Both founded in 2001, the highly promising San Miguel Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorale were suddenly disbanded while no one was looking. No one is expected to drink to that.
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As a people, I think we are further reduced to what may be the equvalent of
itaktakmo pirated cds or bets being passed around on basketball days