Jolly Ting has kept his silence over the katzenjammer that arose from the news last week that he was closing down several popular girlie bars, including Pegasus Ultimate Men’s Club, Heartbeat Mega KTV and Air Force One.
He kept a distance from the Manila Standard scoop last week and let his listed company, Jolliville Holdings Inc., issue a series of confusing disclosures with the Philippine Stock Exchange. Jolliville tried to deny the story in broad terms in the first disclosure, clarified it in the second and finally confirmed the temporary suspension of operations of its KTV clients amid the coronavirus pandemic.
In the same statement, Jolliville denied that Air Force One, a high-end entertainment club in Parañaque City, was among its clients. “JOH and its subsidiaries do not have any business relationship with Air Force One,” it said.
The silence of Jolly, chairman and chief executive of Jolliville, is understandable. His Jolliville could be linked to Pegasus, et al, and that is not good business for his holding company. He also has not publicly confirmed his ownership of the clubs. Nor has he conceded that he, through his dummy companies, sent out separation pay to employees of the entertainment clubs.
Jolly, however, should not be taciturn anymore. His granddaughter, Viva Artists Agency contract singer Muriel Ting, admitted his lolo’s ownership in an interview with entertainment news and lifestyle website PEP.ph.
Muriel told writer Jojo Gabinete last week that two companies held by his father and grandfather separately owned the string of girlie bars.
“Yung sa lolo ko, Jolliville Holdings Corporation. Sa kanya yung Pegasus, Heartbeat, at Star Fleet. Ang company ng Papa ko is Young Guys Corporation. Sa kanya ang Air Force One, Classmate, at Kremlin. Pero hindi sila magsasara,” says Muriel, whose father is Jolly’s nephew. Muriel rued the closure of the bars, even calling Pegasus an “institution.”
But Jolly and his relatives have long been known in the industry as the owners of the string of popular nightclubs in select areas of Metro Manila and a nearby town, as cited in a trademark ruling against Jollibee Foods Corp.
The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines on July 4, 2017 ruled in favor of Jolliville over the use of the name Jolliville. Jolliville said its name was a trademark formed in combination of Jolly Ting’s first name and ‘ville’, resulting in a coined word suggestive of the kind of business he was into, which was real estate.
“While appellee [Jollibee] was making it big in the food service business, so was Mr. Jolly L. Ting in the night entertainment business. As the owner of a string of night entertainment establishments such as Pegasus, Discovery, Mega Heartbeat, Lexus, he earned the moniker king of night entertainment,” IPOPHL said.
Jolliville, in the meantime, has dissociated itself from the bars owned by its chairman and chief executive. “JOH [has] been informed of the temporary suspension of our clients’ business in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. It may be expected that lease payments and service contracts with these clients may be reviewed and renegotiated, while clients’ operations remain suspended,” the company said in a final disclosure to the stock exchange.
The company also clarified that unit Servwell BPO International Inc., which gives technical services and back office support, does not employ thousands of employees, nor does it provide talents and staffing needs to owners of KTV entertainment/recreation clubs.
The closure of the high-end bars and night clubs in Metro Manila followed the decision of Angie Mead King to shut down several branches of Victoria Court motels as the government continued to implement social distancing rules across all industries.
Night clubs were blamed for the spread of the virus in South Korea when the Northeast Asian country tried to relax the restrictions on mobility last month.
Jolly started in the night club business in the early 1980s, and branched out into real estate venture with Jolliville Realty and Development Co. Inc. in September 1986.
Jolly, however, will find it difficult to explain his dealings with unit Jolliville unit Servwell if the PSE decides to probe their business relationship. The parent company, Jolliville, unit Servwell and the girlie bars have one common owner—Jolly Ting.
E-mail: rayenano@yahoo.com or extrastory2000@gmail.com