Trading of Meralco stocks resumes today

Trading of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) shares will resume today following the Philippine Stock Exchange’s decision to lift the month-long suspension.

PSE disclosure department head Pete Malabanan said the board of directors of the bourse approved the resumption of trading in Meralco stocks after resolving a share ownership dispute with Land Bank of the Philippines.

“Meralco is glad that finally, the trading of its shares will now resume in the Philippine Stock Exchange,” Meralco head of legal and disclosure officer Anthony Rosete said.

“I am sure this will be a big relief most especially to Meralco’s many shareholders. We also hope that this will result in normal trading of Meralco shares, the suspension of which in the last couple of weeks has caused anxiety on the part of our shareholders who had absolutely nothing to do with the Lubrica case,” he added.

Earlier, the Philippine Depository and Trust Corp. (PDTC) declared that the disputed “Lubrica” contested by the state-run Landbank shares will no longer be an obstacle to the trading of Meralco shares at the PSE.

In another development, Meralco announced the retirement of Jesus “Chito” Francisco as president and chief operating officer (COO) effective Jan. 31.

Francisco, however, will remain in the board of directors until the next stockholders’ meeting in May this year.

His position as chairman of Miescor, a wholly-owned Meralco subsidiary, and as president of Clark Electric Distribution Corp. (CEDC), jointly-owned by Meralco and Angeles Electric Corp., will likewise be retained.

Francisco was elected president by Meralco’s board in June 2001. A double-engineering degree-holder (electrical and mechanical) from the University of the Philippines, he joined Meralco in 1971 as a management trainee upon completing his MBM With Distinction from the Asian Institute of Management. He served under four Meralco presidents in various capacities, becoming executive vice-president and chief operating officer in 1998.

The first engineer-president of Meralco, Francisco steered the company through some of its most challenging years, including last year’s controversies with the state pension fund GSIS. Although he preferred to keep a low profile as Meralco president, he became very visible during the nationally-televised Senate and House Energy Committee hearings, clarifying many technical and regulatory issues.

He is known as a media-friendly public utility executive, welcoming reporters’ texts and calls on his cellphone.

In recognition of his professional achievements, Francisco has received numerous awards from his alma mater. In 2008, UP’s Centennial Year, he received the UP Alumni Engineers Most Distinguished Alumnus Award. He had already been named the Most Outstanding Alumnus in Electrical Engineering in 1998, and in 1986 had received a Professional Award in Engineering from the UP Alumni Association.

He is also a recipient of the Outstanding Bedan Award from the San Beda College Alumni Association (2002), and the prestigious Triple A (Alumni Achievement Award) from the Asian Institute of Management (1996).

“I was all set to retire in June 2008 on my 65th birthday. It would have been a nice round seven-year-stint as Meralco president. But it was not meant to be,” confides Francisco. “I spent many happy and productive years in Meralco and now I look forward to what my retired friends say is the best that is yet to come.”

Besides devoting more time to family matters and perhaps picking up golf again, Francisco adds that he will continue to pursue his community service involvements. These include the UP Engineering Research and Development Foundation Inc. (UPERDFI) of which he was chairman for 12 years, and Haribon Foundation, of which he is the current chairman.

Meralco chairman and CEO Manuel Lopez, who has worked closely with Francisco for the past 23 years, said “We are all tremendously grateful for Chito’s contributions to the company. His retirement is well-earned and richly deserved. We would like to retain him as a Consultant and he will continue to sit in the Management Committee.