Future looks good for PLDT

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) chairman Manny Pangi-linan and president and CEO Poly Na-zareno are in high spirits following the board meeting last Tuesday where audited financial and operating results for the previous year showed core net income rising to P38.7 billion, or five percent more than the P36.9 billion in 2012. The increase is mainly attributed to increased service revenues and higher EDITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization). 

MVP and Poly are not exactly laughing all the way to the bank, but are certainly grinning from ear-to-ear despite a two percent decline in net earnings due in large part to losses and damages caused by Typhoon Yolanda estimated at P900 million, with several sites going down in the typhoon-devastated areas. However, the recent financial report does not include potential, recoveries from insurance payments.

PLDT is definitely on a growth trajectory going by the much-improved numbers with consolidated service revenues increasing three percent to over P164 billion due to enhanced income from data and Internet services, more than overcoming the legacy businesses of the country’s largest telecoms firm. The PLDT Board also approved a final regular dividend of P62 per share, plus a special dividend of P54 per share to bring the total dividend payout to P179 per share, which spells 100 percent of core income for seven years in a row.

PLDT ended 2013 strongly as the country’s most valuable listed firm with a market value of P580.76 billion. Share prices are steadily going on the uptrend, and there’s every expectation that PLDT will reach the target core net income of P39.5 billion this year. The telecoms giant continues to lead the way by developing revolutionary products and innovative business solutions with its innovation laboratories or “innolabs” in strategic locations in the country, the latest of which was very recently put up in Baguio City.  Definitely, the future looks bright for PLDT. 

‘Death and taxes’ for doctors

No one is arguing that the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) should do its job of collecting the right taxes, but more and more people are joining the call for the BIR to temper the “enthusiasm” in coming out with ads that are causing negative reactions from the public. The BIR ad showing a doctor piggyback riding on the shoulders of a teacher conveying the message that the (tax cheating) doctor is a social burden has drawn a lot of flak not only from doctors, but also from other professionals as well, with some groups looking at the possibility of lobbying Congress and complaining about what they described as the “prejudicial” and “insulting” methods by which the tax agency goes about its business of collecting taxes. 

The Philippine Medical Association (PMA) is raising a hue and cry over the implication that doctors are “doctoring” taxes, decrying the sweeping generalization that the ad is conveying. Coming from a family of doctors, I can certainly commiserate with the reaction of the PMA. Both of my parents were doctors and so was my late brother, Dr. Quasi, who recently died fighting to advance causes that would bring welfare to the poorer members of society, advocating universal healthcare, cheaper medicines and reproductive health among many others.

Doctors take the Hippocratic oath to save lives and uphold high professional and ethical standards – and putting them up as objects of ridicule and disdain or sweepingly portraying them as dishonest is totally degrading and unfair. As Senator Nancy Binay pointed out, there are a lot of doctors out there who earn very little and receive chickens or a basket of vegetables or oftentimes, just grateful IOUs from patients, and yet they continue to practice their profession with dedication.

We are a country that has never really believed in the saying that there are only two sure things in this world: death and taxes. It would seem that in the Philippines, the only sure thing is death – with people dying from pollution or even from buses falling from the skyway. Sure, taxes should be a sure thing for a country to prosper but it should not be done in an insulting manner. In our culture, hiya or dishonor or shame can affect behavior and in the case of the BIR shame campaign, it could prove to be more counterproductive because Filipinos are more likely to react negatively when they feel that they are being ridiculed or insulted.

Instead of negative campaign materials, the BIR should try to use a more positive message and look for ways to make the filing process/system less complicated and make it understandable for ordinary people with “mom-and-pop” business operations, many of whom could not afford the services of an accountant. If indeed BIR records indicate which professionals have not been paying the right taxes, then by all means go after them.

Spy tidbit

Weber Shandwick-Philippines president and COO Diana Valera-Lesaca sent us an e-mail that private volunteer group Operation Smile bagged the Anvil Award of Merit for Children’s Health Advocacy for its “Journey Home” mission promoting a cause that could change a child’s life forever in only 45 minutes of surgery.

Held recently at the Solaire Resort and Casino, the global charity organization’s “The Journey Home” campaign made it to the select list of winners, with global PR and communications firm Weber Shandwick helping Operation Smile – pro bono – meet its communication objectives to create public awareness about the mission that provided life-changing reconstructive surgeries to at least 1,500 Filipino children and young adults in 24 days through eight surgical mission sites in various parts of the country, in celebration of the organization’s 30TJ year in 2012.  

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