Jimenezes not leaving GMA 7

Butch Jimenez, PLDT’s first vice president for media and communications, says it all in this ‘tear-jerking’ (he promised me it would be) and ‘heart-warming’ letter which more or less confirms what I’ve been hearing from the grapevine: that the Jimenezes are not interested in selling their 35 percent stake in GMA Network Inc. – not even to the PLDT group as erroneously reported in other newspapers.

"Hi! I read your column last Wednesday and thanks for the vote of confidence. How-ever, I do believe that if Mr. Pangilinan indeed becomes part of GMA Network, he would have a host of other executives far more competent than I am to oversee his interests. Besides, our family still is the single biggest stockholder in GMA and we are well represented in both the board of GMA and the excom that runs its day to day operations through my brother, Joel.

"Though our family has always kept its option open with regards to the possibility of selling some of our shares, we are not really keen on doing so. It is common knowledge that my father as President and CEO of GMA Network for 26 years built the company from a bleeding black and white station showing reruns of Popeye to a P15 billion broadcast empire loved and respected not only by its hundreds of employees but the Filipinos at large. After relinquishing his position to my uncle, Henry Gozon three years ago, my uncle now has done a splendid job in building off the rock-solid foundation that my father built and has now made the company grow.

"The cycle of life is such that the business my father and uncle built will soon have to be passed on to the second generation. And that becomes an exciting proposition for GMA. When the wireless domain of telecoms and the Internet intersects with the content-driven platform of a TV network, then a new technological wave will occur that I believe will once again affect the landscape of our everyday lives, in much the same way the Internet did in the late 80’s and the cellphones have done in recent years.

"It is in the context of this coming era that my father wisely told all of us, "to gain experience and make a name for ourselves outside of GMA." So that when the baton is passed, we are not looked upon merely as the COO (child of the owner) who got to where he is because of his family name. That’s why my brother, Joel with his partners now run the most hi-tech sports complex at the Fort, my youngest sister Carmen runs the biggest and most successful bazaar event for the last 11 years, my other sister Laurie with her credentials and experience from the US can actually land any finance job she wishes, and why I work as hard and as diligently as I can as an employee in PLDT.

"We don’t just hold in our hands 35 percent or the single biggest block of a TV network. We hold in our hands nearly 30 years of blood, sweat and tears my dad and my uncle poured out to bring GMA to where it is today. And when the baton is passed to the second generation, our family will still be a part of GMA. Furthermore, we will make that company soar and we will make our father proud."

Bank Heist Update

Remember Girlie Lingad, that UCPB Olongapo branch marketing officer-trainee who allegedly fled the country with about P80 million in customers’ term placements?

UCPB president Jojo Querubin told me recently that she has gone hiding in the US with her kids, but the bank will stop at nothing to capture her. Initially, the bank has filed a case against her for falsification of private documents so that the Department of Foreign Affairs can proceed with canceling her passport and extradition proceedings can commence (she will be hunted in the US and brought back to the Philippines for trial).

Eventually, when the bank has gathered all the evidence it needs, charges of qualified theft will be brought against her.

Mr. Querubin tells me that Lingad was well liked by co-employees and customers as well. She was amiable and gained the trust of everyone. As a single 33-year-old mom, she was very hardworking and was selling prepaid phone cards in Olongapo. Co-employees began to suspect that she was up to something when her lifestyle began to change. She was buying expensive things, including a car, left and right. According to Mr. Querubin, Girlie did the scam alone. She misled her higher ups into signing documents and even forged some signatures in order to pre-terminate the placements.

Mr. Querubin insists that Lingad’s heist is an isolated case and is not reflective of the bank’s internal controls. The controls are there, he says, it’s just that Lingad was able to use the trust he earned to manipulate everyone in the branch.

From The Readers

Arnie Alcazar, freelance communications consultant and formerly PR manager of Intel Phils., complains about Citibank Mastercard which has been billing him about P4,000 a month for a "Call for Cash" loan that he never availed of. A Citiphone officer would always assure him that his complaint was already on record and would be acted upon soonest but still, the bills continued to pile up. His card was cancelled, the monthly billings came without fail, and continued to reflect the erroneous loan charges. With additional and compounded charges and penalties, his balance of less than P50,000 in January 2003 has ballooned to nearly P200,000 to date!

After about 7-8 months since he reported the false loan, Citibank called to say that their "investigation" shows that he had, indeed, received the check for the loan and encashed it at Citibank Libis. Incredibly, however, in two separate phone calls, Citibank gave two different names–both alien to him–who allegedly received the check on his behalf.

Later, a Citibank official called him to offer a "compromise settlement." Citibank was willing to disregard the disputed "Call for Cash" loan and would come up with a new balance, minus the disputed billings and the concomitant charges and penalties. He refused because the whole thing is wrong in the first place. After at least two law firms harassing him over the claim with threats of lawsuits, they stopped calling him. Just like that. Does this mean that the whole thing is over? All he wants is peace of mind.

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