I’M the least qualified to write about this famous man whose extraordinary achievements in everything he does is worth extolling. His life is a fulfillment of the Filipino dream, if there is such a thing. He embodies success in his academic pursuit, professional career, business management and sports development. After graduating Cum Laude with a degree in Economics at the Ateneo de Manila University, he won a scholarship competition to study in Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1968. Wharton is the world’s oldest collegiate business school and is regarded as one of the most prestigious business schools in the whole world.
He definitely imbibed Wharton’s motto: “Knowledge for action.” His life is a dynamic force that has given birth to business ideas and entrepreneurial efforts, which helped develop our economy. He has undertaken business initiatives and pursued endeavors that few of his peers would dare touch. He runs and manages a business conglomerate with a diverse set of companies, which provide quality and affordable goods and services to the Filipinos.
Manuel Velez Pangilinan, more popularly known as MVP, has been the most valuable player in every activity that he takes part in. As Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co., Ltd. and Chairman of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., a Philippine-based investment management and holding company, which owns, among others, the PLDT, Smart Communications, Meralco, Maynilad Water, TV 5, Philex Mining, several hospitals, and media, MVP’s presence in our country’s economic life is significant. He is into power, water, telecommunication, energy, infrastructure development, transportation, consumer food products, IT, health care, mining, etc., which affect every aspect of our daily living. His business conglomerate covers varied enterprises that provide goods and services to our people. His various businesses greatly contribute to our national development. It would cause a major pandemic if suddenly his entire enterprises cease to provide goods and services to millions of customers. It would be a disaster of unimaginable proportions.
This article is not about business or profit. We are the least concerned with the income MVP generates for his principal and shareholders. As a former ex-officio member of the PLDT Board of Directors, I had observed up close his business acumen, which would assure shareholders of a sound sleep at night. Most of his companies are solid, like PLDT, Meralco, Maynilad, and they will continue to survive and prosper despite the Covid-19. They will continue to provide handsome returns to their owners, but what we will remember will be the various projects that MVP has launched to benefit his poor countrymen. I first heard about MVP when I was an OFW in Hong Kong in the 1980s, a few years after MVP had set up the First Pacific with the Salim family of Indonesia. As a top Filipino business leader in the territory, he led in setting up the HK Bayanihan Trust to provide funding for the Filipino overseas workers in HK. One major project of the Bayanihan Trust in 1994 was the leasing of a former school in Kennedy Town in HK to establish the Domestic Helpers Center not only for Filipino OFWs but also for foreign domestic helpers of various nationalities. My family and I lived in Victoria Road just across the Center and we spent our Saturdays and Sundays at the place. We attended masses and watched social activities where our kababayans made presentations. The Center also sponsored free medical services like consultations, vaccination, and counseling. If you are away from your homeland, being with your fellow Filipinos is what matters most. MVP also extended valuable assistance to those in need through the Center and the Philippine Association in HK. He has served as Chairman of the Bayanihan Trust Fund for many years. No one can dispute that MVP is the biggest sports patron in the Philippines. This column is not enough to mention the entire major sports events and outstanding athletes that he has supported. He is the major sponsor of the top amateur basketball teams in the country—the Ateneo Blue Eagles and the San Beda Red Lions. The two schools are fortunate to be his Alma Maters. He founded the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas of which he remains as its Chairman Emeritus to this day. If he’s a legend in business, he’s an icon in sports. Unlike his business organization, MVP does not publish his philanthropic acts and crow about his contributions to charity.
Born on July 14, 1946, MVP will turn 75 next month. In many companies, 75 is the age when a business honcho retires from active business practice. Early this month, MVP retired as the President & Chief Executive Officer of PLDT, which elected his successor at its last shareholders’ meeting. We really do not know the policy or practice of his other companies outside of PLDT. He may keep the top executive posts of both the First Pacific and Metro Pacific. He may no longer be personally managing the companies but to us he remains the MVP. Maybe not just the MVP but the GOAT—the greatest of all time. Not just for what he had accomplished for business, but for what he did for his fellowmen. By his example, MVP has given meaning to what Matthew 16:26 declares: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?” A man is defined not by what he gets but by what he gives.