MVP plans to get even bigger this year

Manila Times.net
BY DANTE “KLINK” ANG 2ND EXECUTIVE EDITOR

To say that Manny Pangilinan will be busy in 2011 seems like an understatement, given his plans to expand projects in light rail, power generation, international airports—and even in corporate social responsibility, or CSR, programs. Pangilinan is one of the top Filipino business leaders, heading many of the largest corporations in the country. He spoke to The Manila Times in late December in his capacity as chairman of the Philippine 
Business for Social Progress (PBSP), a social development foundation that is celebrating its 40th anniversary this month.

“We’ll probably be more focused next year [2011] in terms of business, in terms of what we do,” he said when asked about his corporate plans.

He told The Times that he was looking at working on light rail projects. Pangilinan is chairman of the Metro Pacific Investment Corp. (MPIC), which invested in the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 last year. MPIC also was reportedly planning to increase its equity in the light rail company this year.

“[We] hope to help government expand that and refurbish it,” he said referring to MRT 3, which traverses 16.8 kilometers of EDSA.

And there’s more.

“We would be keen to start on the airport project, the international airport in this country, get into more tollways, get more water distribution systems, for Meralco [Manila Electric Co.] to get into power generation, for more hospitals,” he added.

On Monday, The Manila Times reported that MPIC was preparing a feasibility study for the development of a high-speed train to the international airport at Clark, the site of a former US Air Force Base in Pampanga.

Earlier, it was reported that Pangilinan was considering a joint-venture with Ramon Ang, the chief executive officer of San Miguel Corp., to upgrade the international airport in Clark.

He confirmed that report. “I think there has been some framework, understanding with San Miguel on the international airport, some broad agreement to pursue together,” Pangilinan told The Times.

He said: “As a general principle, we’re open to partnerships with other business groups.”

Besides MPIC, Pangilinan is also chairman of the Tollways Management Corp., which operates North Luzon Expressway, the gateway to Central and Northern Luzon. At the same time, he is president and chief executive officer of Meralco, the largest electric utility in the country. And he is chairman of the Maynilad Water Services Inc., one of the two water utilities operating in Metro Manila.

Satisfying work
The work that gives satisfaction these days include Channel 5, owned and managed by Associated Broadcasting Co., of which Pangilinan is also chairman. Besides television, Pangilinan-led companies also have stakes in BusinessWorld and in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

As for TV5, he said that his target for making a profit was two to three more years. He added that he enjoys working on television because of the creative process involved, and that he enjoys challenging the big players in the industry, which is dominated by ABS-CBN Corp. and GMA Network Inc.

Pangilinan told The Times that he does not pressure the TV5 management team to be profitable. Instead he told them, “Try your best, plan well, and [let’s] see where that brings us.”

TV5’s corporate offices are planning to move to Fort Bonifacio either late this year or early 2012, he said. 
The entertainment side will have to follow later, because it will take time to build the studios, he added.

His greatest satisfaction, however, comes from working in another industry—medical services.

“My greatest satisfaction this year is learning that Lourdes Hospital—our newest baby, [a] small one—made money in the first month of our investment,” he told The Times.

He was referring to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, a 230-bed facility in Santa Mesa, Manila, managed by MPIC. Since 1958 until November 1, 2010, the hospital was managed by the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit congregation (SSpS).

“We made about P5.5 million, and a portion of that goes to the nuns, to the congregation,” he said, adding that this development came “after many years of losses.”

Pangilinan-led companies also have stakes in several other hospitals, including Makati Medical Center in the country’s financial district, Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan City (Metro Manila), and Davao Doctor’s Hospital in Mindanao.

Drumming up PBSP
Besides growing his business empire, Pangilinan plans to be preoccupied with making PBSP bigger in 2011.

As chairman of PBSP, he hopes to make it larger and more prominent so that it can attract more donations. PBSP gives out some P400 million in grants and donations each year, but funding raised from members is only about P70 million annually. The difference comes from foreign sources, he said.

Despite the gargantuan task, he told The Times that he was optimistic about raising more resources for local projects, especially those that alleviate poverty in the Philippines.

The interest of Filipinos to help others in need has been awakened, and corporations were becoming more strategic in their approach to CSR, he told The Times.

“The principal objective of business is to deliver goods and services for a profit. That should be the main logic of business,” he said. But increasingly, many companies think about contributing to the community, he added.

“It’s what I call enlightened self interest,” he explained.

By helping people raise their incomes, they become increasingly capable of buying goods and services produced by businesses, he said. Conversely, those who get poorer were constrained to buy things, he added.

“[This is] not to mention the fact that if the poor continue to become poorer, then the country could be headed for social unrest. And if there’s social unrest, it’s not good for business,” he told The Times.

He also said that PBSP could help companies that were looking to engage in CSR projects. PBSP was founded in 1970 by the top 50 business leaders at that me. Today, it has 180 members, from single proprietorships to multinational companies.

The scale of initiatives to help the poor has got to go up, he said. “And if we could agree to a more focused approach to poverty alleviation in this country, and we get the various CSR organizations, and of course government, to be more focused and cooperative, then we might have a better chance.”

The incidence of poverty in the Philippines was about 40 percent when PBSP was founded four decades ago. Today, according to government reports, the rate was 32.9 percent as of 2006, the latest figure available.

He concedes that there will be cynics who will question the motives of the companies performing CSR initiatives.

“You just have to deal with,” Pangilinan told The Times. “If it’s the outcome, if that’s the side effect, that’s the side effect. But that shouldn’t stop you from doing [something] good.”