Manny matters

In January 2001, when news of the unrest on the streets of Manila reached him after the senators in the impeachment trial of President Joseph Estrada voted against the opening of the second envelope, tycoon Manny Pangilinan took the first flight out – of Hong Kong.

While nervous businessmen were taking the first flight out of Manila to Hong Kong, Manny, then on a business trip to the former Crown Colony, decided to do the opposite. He was going home.

"I do love this country," says Manny, once Hong Kong’s highest paid expatriate. He was not about to shirk from his civic responsibilities, even if that meant making a stand (he felt it was time for Mr. Estrada to go) and taking a risk.

Nowadays, aside from leading the country’s largest telecommunications firm to greater heights, tugging the people along with it, Manny, First Pacific CEO and chairman of PLDT and SMART, is supporting housing projects (Gawad Kalinga), the computerization of public schools (starting with a school in flooded Catmon, Malabon) and various sports programs.

A known basketball fan, he is also behind the MVP Cup, and now, the Philippine team to the 2006 Davis Cup.

"MVP " (for Manuel Velez Pangilinan) believes sportsmen make good citizens.

"I believe in sports. Because the best feeling is winning, and winning fair," says this hard-driving businessman.

The sportsman’s ethic is also MVP’s work ethic.

He believes that in business, as in sports, "Mas mabuti yung you won it fair and square, and you won something in a tough competition."

Sports has also taught him to roll with life’s punches and accept defeat gracefully. How does MVP deal with defeat and disappointments?

"I mourn for a few days then move on. Talo ka, eh. Analyze why you lost," he philosophizes.

Though success is usually in the air he breathes, MVP has experienced defeat, and – surprise – he allows himself to mourn after a loss. "Because if you don’t regret it, if you don’t feel sad about it, at least feel bitter sometimes about it, you don’t value it. Para ring sugat – humihilom, tapos pag magaling na, move on to the next challenge..."

* * *

On the day PLDT and SMART presented the Philippine bets to the 2006 Davis Cup (Asia Oceania Group 3 Games in Manila), MVP took time out to have lunch with three lifestyle columnists (including this writer.) He was as befuddled as we were as to why we were brought together for a press conference on tennis. I, for one, had never held a tennis racquet in my life.

"I was told I was having lunch with young chicks," Manny joked.

"Are you disappointed you got mother hens instead?" countered Bulletin columnist Jullie Yap Daza. (Of course, I begged to disagree.)

Debonaire in a dark Armani suit and Manolo Blahniks, the San Juan-born Pangilinan talked about his insecurities and his dreams (at one point, he teased me that I was asking him "slam book-type" questions, which I was, because I believe such questions elicit revealing responses). Over fresh vegetable salad and diet Pepsi (his favorite drink, by the way) he reveals that though he may be ahead now in many things, he grew up being literally in the middle of everything.

The middle child in a brood of three (two boys and a girl), Manny says he’s had to work harder to be "noticed."

"Usually, panganay naman lagi and napupuna, lalo kung lalake. Mestizo. Playboy. All the qualities that are inherent in my kuya. (Chiqui). Babae naman yung bunso (Tessie). Insecure ako," he recalls.

So this middle child chose the more difficult path: the path paved with hard work.

"To make up, I suppose. I was insecure," he says again. "I had to work harder."

Manny, like most children, craved for his parents’ Dominador and Soledad’s pride and approval. In fact, he confides, he wanted to be his father’s heir apparent in Traders Royal Bank, where Dominador (who died in 1987) rose to become president. In the ’80s, as an up-and-coming Hong Kong-based executive in his thirties, Manny felt bad that his father did not groom him to be his successor.

"I saw him rise from the ranks, from messenger to president of Traders Royal Bank. I guess as a son you sort of believe you should inherit his job. That’s what I was hoping, that one day when he retires, he would take me into the same bank. Kasi I would write their annual reports, prepare the annual budgets. But then he never did."

"One time, he called," continues Manny. "I was ecstatic when he called me and he said, ‘Why don’t you come with me to LA?’ Because I think every month, he flew to LA for a board meeting. I was ecstatic. I thought it was the beginning of my chance to succeed him."

Early in the morning of the fateful board meeting, Manny got a call, the much-awaited call. It was his father.

"He called me to say, ‘I’ve arranged for a car to take you... to Disneyland’!" recalls Manny.

"Extremely" disappointed, it was Manny’s first and last trip to Disneyland. The "happiest place on earth" became his saddest rendezvous. And the rest, as they say, is corporate history.

* * *

Manny looks back at the incident as life- altering. It was one of the defining moments of his life.

"Now, on hindsight, I can see that my father didn’t want me to suffer the things he suffered under Benedicto and Marcos. He did not want to expose me to the dangers of cronyism. Now, I appreciate it. Corollary to that, if I had gone to Traders, I wouldn’t be where I am now."

"I think that’s what Chiang Kai Shek once said about Taiwan. He said something like, ‘If there are going to be any problems in this country, let them be in my generation because my children and grandchildren will have their own problems.’ Parang sinasabi niya sa akin, ‘Hijo, ang problema ko, ayokong ma-inherit mo. Let me solve them, because you will have your own problems’."

Banking, not the flagship business of First Pacific, was thus never Manny’s focus. He has also steered clear of politics and cronyism. What seemed like a father’s rejection turned out to be his best legacy after all.

* * *

Manny’s first act as PLDT chairman (he returned to the country in 1997, though he flies weekly to Hong Kong, a place where he can "work and think" at the same time) was to make an accounting of all the cars that were reporting to his office.

He does not preach about how a technocrat’s skills can work for government, asking instead Deedee Siytangco, who was once Press Undersecretary, what she thought would be best for government.

A good leader, says Manny, whether one is in government or in the carpeted halls of First Pacific, is one who doesn’t cling to power.

"You should be ready to lose your job if you don’t perform well, whether you’re a president or a politician. You must know when to go. That’s what happened to us during Marcos. He did not know when to go."

Manny also believes in compromise, saying a compromise between the heirs of Ferdinand Marcos (especially his widow Imelda) and the government would be best.

* * *

Manny, who usually ends his day with a game of badminton, says success is no accident. Asked the secret of his success – prayers, feng shui, hard work? – he answers, "Hard work, prayers, feng shui and luck – in that order."

He was exposed to feng shui during the many years he lived in Hong Kong. In Manila, a geomancer told him that his office faced the corners of the Oakwood building in Glorietta, which was bad feng shui. Since he couldn’t turn both the PLDT building or Oakwood around, he was advised instead to bring three steel and wood turtles into his office.

This San Beda and Ateneo alumnus did, too.

* * *

Manny, who just turned 60, volunteers that he was born in the Chinese Year of the Dog and quite agrees with what someone once wrote of him. "I eat like a bird and work like a horse."

Having it all, is there anything else he wants to do? MVP wants to go into media, and maybe own a TV station and a newspaper one day.

And now, for the slam book question: Which place does he dream of visiting one day?

Disneyland, for closure?

No. MVP wants to visit the Canadian mountain resort town of Banff. The man who revels in fair and tough competitions happens to be, among other things, a good skier.

* * *

(You may e-mail me at [email protected])