First Pacific bolsters operations of RP unit

Hong Kong-based conglomerate First Pacific Co. Ltd. is slowly flexing its muscle on the operations of its Philippine unit Metro Pacific Corp. (MPC) as more of its top executives have been tasked to occupy sensitive positions in the local company.

MPC Group vice president for corporate development Michael Goco told the Philippine Stock Exchange that First Pacific executive director Edward Tortorici has been elected to fill up one of the remaining vacant seats in the MPC board.

He said Tortorici was recruited to assist MPC chairman Manuel Pangilinan regarding the company’s ongoing initiatives, particularly in chopping off a significant portion of its P12-billion debts.

MPC owes roughly P5 billion to parent company First Pacific while approximately P7 billion are loans from third parties such as banks and financing institutions.

"To further complement Metro Pacific’s executive resources, two First Pacific Group executives have been assigned on Metro Pacific-related matters," Goco added.

At First Pacific, the US-born Tortorici, 62, is responsible for organization and strategic planning, with the specific responsibility for its investments in Indonesia and e-commerce business.

Aside from backstopping Pangilinan — himself the executive chairman of First Pacific, which he founded in 1981 — Tortorici’s appointment was also intended to fill in the vacuum created by the departure of Ricardo Pascua as MPC president and CEO.

The MPC board accepted Pascua’s request to go on indefinite leave due to his involvement in a group vying to take over majority interest in Bonifacio Land Corp. (BLC), the lead consortium in the development of the Bonifacio Global City. MPC, which owns 69.6 percent stake in BLC, is dangling the sale of this controlling block to interested bidders in order to raise cash for its debt-reduction program.

With Pascua’s exit, Pangilinan will assume the multiple roles of acting president and CEO, on top of his chairmanship and COO positions, until such time that MPC’s debt level and cash flow have been sufficiently addressed.

Besides Pangilinan and Tortorici, two other former First Pacific executives sit on MPC’s 14-man board of directors: chief financial officer Grant Ferguson and Christopher Young.