From tycoons’ men to Marcos’ men

Six months on, President Marcos continues to name new members of his team, filling the void in existing positions or creating new positions altogether.

And he seems to have a penchant for tycoons’ men or executives of some of the country’s most prominent businessmen, if not the businessmen themselves.

Indeed, some of those appointed are from the different sprawling conglomerates, namely from the groups of the Aboitiz, Razon, Gokongwei, Tan and very early on, San Miguel Corp.

Frederick Go

The latest appointment is Frederick Go, Robinsons Land president and CEO who is now presidential adviser on investment and economic affairs.

This appointment isn’t surprising because Go, although a nephew of the late tycoon John Gokongwei, is quite well known in the private sector for his business acumen. For instance, he grew RLC from only five assets when he took over in 1992 to a P223-billion company with 53 shopping malls and over 100 developments.

He holds key roles in the sprawling business empire of the Gokongwei Group and has vast experience both in international and local business environments, such as being chairman of Luzon International Premier Airport Development Corp. or LIPAD, the company managing the Clark International Airport in Pampanga and the Gokongwei Group’s businesses in China.

Investments

Go will be tasked to help bring big-ticket investments – foreign and local – into the country, from water, infrastructure, power, etc.

It’s a task that also falls on the shoulders of our economic managers but perhaps Go, 53 or much younger than Marcos’ so-called Old Boys Club economic team, brings in a breath of fresh air and hopefully much needed new ideas on how to bring in more investments to the country.

Rafael Consing

Rafael Consing is ports tycoon Enrique Razon’s long time CFO and, in the words of Razon himself, “has made a very significant contribution to the success of the business,” referring to his International Container Terminal Services Inc.

Razon said, “We have accepted his retirement with regret.”

Consing, who will be helping the office which will be led by Go, is a six-time Corporate Governance Asia Awardee for Best CFO (Investor Relations) for Asia – from 2016 to 2021. In 2019, he was also recognized as the Best CFO for Southeast Asia, and 2017 and 2019 Best CFO in the Philippines by Alpha Southeast.

The Aboitizes

Of all the conglomerates though, it is the Aboitiz Group which has the most number of appointees in the Marcos administration.

There’s Energy Regulatory Commission chair Monalisa Dimalanta, former chief legal counsel and compliance officer of Aboitiz Power Corp., the Aboitiz Group’s listed power arm.

And then there’s Dennis de la Serna, president and CEO of the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), the company tasked to privatize state-owned power assets.

De la Serna was also with – you guessed it right – AboitizPower as its first vice-president for regulatory affairs.

Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla didn’t really hold executive positions in the Aboitiz empire but is identified as an ex-Aboitiz man nonetheless because he served as independent director of AboitizPower.

The three energy officials are all highly qualified but unfortunately for them, there’s a lot of mistrust among other power players because of their ties with AboitizPower.

Tycoon Sabin Aboitiz himself has been appointed as convenor of the Private Sector Advisory Council.

The council is composed of business leaders across five main sectoral groups.

Designated sector leads include agribusiness company La Filipina Uy Gongco Group of Companies Aileen Uygongco-Ongkauko for Agriculture; RFM Corp.’s Joey Concepcion for Jabs to Jobs; Union Bank’s Henry Aguda for Digital Infrastructure and Ayala Corp.’s Paolo Borromeo for

Health care.

Manuel Bonoan

Manuel Bonoan, former president and CEO of San Miguel’s SMC Tollways, is among the first appointees of Marcos.

He was handpicked by Marcos as Secretary of Public Works and Highways mainly because they know each other from way back. Bonoan is a native of Solsona, Ilocos Norte.

During his hearing at the Commission on Appointments last November, presidential sister and Senator Imee Marcos said of Bonoan:

“Ilocanos dare to build while others only dream. He is a proud product of that legacy. Agbiag ni Apo secretary Manuel Bonoan (Long live Apo Manuel Bonoan).”

Jaime Bautista

Another executive from the private sector is Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista who was with the Tan Group for the longest time as former president of Philippine Airlines, among other positions.

However, Secretary Bautista has long been retired from the conglomerate prior to his appointment, unlike another ex-Tan executive Jose Arnulfo “Wick” Veloso, who was president of Philippine National Bank at the time of his appointment as chief of Government Service Insurance System.

Like father, like son

There’s really nothing new or illegal in appointing people from the private sector. Other presidents have done it – from Marcos Sr. to the Aquinos.

Marcos Jr. is perhaps just taking a page out of his father’s playbook who tapped private sector executives into key positions in government.

In fact, Marcos Sr.’s men are said to be among the best and the brightest in government and some of them came from the private sector – Cesar Virata, David Consunji, Roberto Ongpin, etc.

We all know that executives from the private sector are professional, well educated and highly skilled.

But with what happened to Marcos Sr.’s administration – where crony capitalism became a buzzword as his businessmen friends enriched themselves – Marcos Jr.’s private sector appointees will be closely watched.

Will they work, go after their ex-boss’ competitors, become clout chasers or, to the best of their ability, serve our country well? Let’s wait and see.

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Email: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.