Smart‘s ‘Boy’ Martirez besieged with job offers

Former Smart Communications marketing whiz Anastacio Martirez, whose out-of-the-box strategies made parent Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) the most profitable company in the country and Smart the biggest cellular operator, is now besieged with offers left and right from foreign companies that want him to be their chief executive.

Contrary to reports (not in The STAR) that Martirez has accepted the CEO post at Indonesian cellular phone company Mobile 8, he told The STAR that he was never approached nor did he approach said company.

In his first interview after the recent management feud that saw him resigning and Smart chief financial adviser Peter Lawrence being booted out by no less than PLDT chairman Manuel Pangilinan himself, Martirez said he has received serious offers from several Indonesian companies to be their chief executive and that he is in discussions with one Australian company.

"Indonesia will most likely be the place where I’ll go but definitely not with Mobile 8 as reported by one paper," he said. Heavily indebted Mobile 8 is a company owned by Anthony Salim whose family owns First Pacific, the Hong Kong-based company that owns 24.4 percent of PLDT.

Martirez was formerly head of Smart’s personal communication and mobile services division and was also running PLDT’s marketing group as part of an informal organizational merger between the two companies.

Martirez was offered by Pangilinan to join either Del Monte (First Pacific is acquiring Cirio’s stake in Del Monte Pacific but has to make a tender offer to the other shareholders, including the Lorenzos) or Indofood (First Pacific’s food company in Indonesia) reportedly after relations with Smart president and CEO Napoleon Nazareno became impossible.

Efforts by Pangilinan to keep both key Smart officials in the family failed after Martirez graciously turned down the two offers.

Lawrence, with whom Martirez has also had irreconcilable differences, was fired by Pangilinan and will retire by June 2006.

A management feud has reportedly been going on for sometime now between Martirez and some of Smart’s foreign consultants and some other executives loyal to these consultants. It was only last week – when the bubble finally burst and Nazareno reportedly decided to support these consultants – that the management infighting came to a head.

Getting Martirez and Nazareno to co-exist in Smart proved to be an insurmountable task so Pangilinan decided to offer Martirez a key position in First Pacific’s food business. Martirez, one of the very few originals at Smart, however said no to the offer but was reportedly given a very handsome exit package.

Two of Martirez’ most trusted executives, Alex Caeg and Brenda Dichoso have quit ahead of Martirez because the two have been at loggerheads with Lawrence. Both Caeg and Dichoso have also received offers from one Indonesian firm and according to Martirez, Caeg is not joining Mobile 8 nor is Dichoso going to People Support as reported by one paper.

"They were not my advance parties to Mobile 8, contrary to what one paper reported. They have received offers from this Indonesian firm (not Mobile 8) for a year now and their offers were completely independent from mine. This firm gave an offer only after hearing that I was out of Smart so I flew to Indonesia recently upon their invitation," he told The STAR.

He said it is not true that Smart people have been complaining that he was a difficult boss to work with. "If this is true, then why are there 3,000 grieving Smart employees who want to join me wherever I go," he said.

Martirez added that he never plotted against Nazareno as others suggest and that these are just rumors being circulated by some people whose dealings he might have questioned. "It is also not true that I have long been planning on leaving Smart. I love the company," he said.

Anabelle Chua, senior vice president and treasurer of PLDT has been designated as Smart’s chief financial officer. Chua will continue to serve as PLDT treasurer and according to the company, her dual role will enhance the coordination of the finance and treasury functions of PLDT and Smart.

Menardo Jimenez Jr., PLDT senior vice president and retail business group head, has been designated officer-in-charge of Smart marketing and sales group, including customer care. He will continue to head PLDT’s RBG. According to STAR sources, Pangilinan has organized a committee up to the First Pacific level to look for a permanent replacement for Martirez.