The Philippines: The Commuter

In his air-conditioned headquarters next to Manila's presidential palace, a portly aristocrat in an immaculate white suit caught up with the business at hand. With imperious dispatch, Don Andres Soriano, 64, decided on the gift boxes that his companies will use next Christmas, studied the experimental strains of barley that he hopes to grow in the Mindanao highlands, and okayed production schedules for a new instant-coffee plant near Manila. That done, he got set to fly to New York to complete negotiations with International Paper Co. for construction of a jointly owned...

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