‘His, hers and ours’

Manny Pangilinan went with Philippine Star chairman Rey Espinosa and TV5 president Noel Lorenzana to the (soft) launch of the ManilaStandardToday that will soon become The New Standard. MVP, taking his cue from Philippine Star columnist Vic Agustin, said the dynamics in the local newspaper industry has changed with the entry of Philip Romualdez as The New Standard chairman. Philip is married to Sandy Prieto-Romualdez, who happens to be president of the Philippine Daily inquirer. 

MVP described the newspaper business as “his, hers and ours,” the latter referring to PLDT’s acquisition of The Philippine Star and other titles with plans to utilize convergence to drive faster growth in the business. With PLDT providing the technology platform, information gathering and delivery would grow by leaps and bounds with synergized media operations that would see the reporting pool of Philstar and TV5 providing content with PLDT’s digital capabilities facilitating an interactive media platform.

During the launch held at the Glasshouse of the New World Makati Hotel, Philip disclosed that the paper’s print version would adopt a tallboy format while the online content would be powered by the digital portal called The Social Standard. The publication would offer a fresh perspective on how people would get news and information through crisp, bite-sized and highly-visual stories for an engaging experience for decision makers in government, business and industry.

Technology would enable the integration of offline and online platforms, with The Social Standard enabling readers to dive into issues as they actively participate through content contribution, or comment and take part in the discussion of trending stories. 

Also at the well-attended launch were VIPs from the diplomatic circle such as US Ambassador Philip Goldberg, Italian Ambassador Massimo Roscigno with wife Agnes, Mrs. Irene Reeder who represented her husband, Canadian Ambassador Neil Reeder, and former Netherlands Ambassador Theo Arnold.

Advertisers and industry captains were also present, among them Tessie Sy-Coson, Hans Sy and Annie Garcia of the SM Group. Also present were senators JV Ejercito, Sonny Angara and Nancy Binay, Makati mayor Junjun Binay, Rep. Toby Tiangco and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez. The former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Reynato Puno was also present and is now a member of The New Standard board of directors.

Not surprisingly, MVP was seen nodding his head while Philip explained the revolutionary concept for The New Standard. The mining executive made guests laugh when he acknowledged the presence of his wife Sandy Prieto-Romualdez – who was emphatic that she was there as Philip’s wife and not as president of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. According to Philip  that he has discovered a better word than “frenemies” to describe the couple’s status now that they are both in the news business. We are now “honeymies,” he said.

Emerging presidentiables

Following the significant drop in the recent survey ratings of Vice President Jejomar Binay, several Makati businessmen have reportedly been hosting private dinners for Sen. Grace Poe, encouraging her to take the plunge in the upcoming presidential elections in May 2016 and promising her their full (financial?) support.

Other businessmen, however, are looking at Manny Pangilinan as their potential presidential candidate, with MVP advocates pointing out that this country needs a technocrat who can effectively run government much like a corporation. Manny’s track record as a successful businessman is not lost on many who are hoping he can lend his magic touch into the political arena and help in sustaining economic progress and development.

The emergence of presidentiables such as Grace Poe and Manny Pangilinan other than Liberal Party candidate-in-waiting Mar Roxas is indicative of the continuing division within the elite in this country, with certain groups still not convinced that the DILG chief would make a winnable candidate even with the sharp decline in VP Binay’s ratings.

Pacquiao selling Forbes residence

One of our real estate informants told Spy Bits that Sarangani Congressman Manny Pacquiao is about to sell his house located at Cambridge Circle in Forbes Park for P708 million. It can be remembered that Pacquiao bought the 1,500 square-meter property from RCBC president Lorenzo Tan for P388 million in 2011 at the height of his supremacy in the boxing arena. Pacquiao flew to Macau with a contingent of 350 on two chartered flights for his bout with American Chris Algieri at the Cotai Arena. At stake is the WBO welterweight title but win or lose, Manny is set to earn at least $25 million in prize money. If he wins against Algieri, perhaps Manny Pacquiao may not have to put his Forbes residence up in the market after all to pay off taxes he allegedly owes the government.

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