Chris Po steps down as chairman, president and CEO of Century Pacific

The Po brothers are a brilliant bunch. All four of them graduated either as summa cum laude or magna cum laude from universities abroad.

As if brilliance isn’t enough, they’re all good-looking, too. And because the first three were born just a year or two years apart, you can’t — at least at first glance — easily tell who is the eldest.

The eldest is Ricardo Gabriel, followed by Teodoro Alexander. The third son is Christopher or Chris, and the youngest, Leonardo Arthur.

They are the sons of taipan Ricardo Po Sr., among the Top 50 richest men in the Philippines, according to Forbes Magazine. The Po family is behind the Century Group, the largest canned tuna company in the country.

When I first saw them, I wondered if Chris was the eldest not because he looked old, but because he seemed very serious and business like, at least at the time I met them, while his brothers were even cracking jokes.

He was the chairman, president and CEO of the company then.

But just the other day, the company announced that Chris was stepping down and will instead be executive chairman.  His brother Teodoro will take his place as president and CEO.

Some in the business community asked me what happened.

It turns out the changes are all just part of the company’s expansion plans, their father said.

“We want to expand outside the canned business. We are looking for other opportunities, but still on food. Chris will focus on that,” Mr. Ricardo Po Sr. told me.

He said they are looking to acquire existing companies or develop new ones.

 “The Philippine economy is growing. Per capita income is growing. More people are buying our products now,” the elder Po said, beaming with pride.

Leo, the youngest of the four, added they would empower professionals to take more responsibilities for the day-to-day operations so Chris could focus on strategic growth.

Exciting times, indeed, for Century Pacific Food. Mr. Po has trained his four sons well, instilling in them the value of hard work.

With the Po brothers stirring Century to greater heights, the sky is the limit for this family-led business.

RVO corrects Forbes magazine

Being on the latest list of the world’s billionaires, that highly exclusive triple comma club isn’t always flattering, especially when your profile isn’t exactly updated and accurate.

Tycoon Roberto V. Ongpin, the 1,999th richest man in the world with a net worth of $1.2 billion, is not take it sitting down.

He recently wrote Forbes Magazine to correct some wrong information about him.

For one, RVO said Alphaland, his luxury property developer, is a $1.2 billion company and not a mere $45.7 million company as Forbes reported.

In its profile of Ongpin, Forbes also said: “As the former Philippine trade minister, Ongpin was accused of conducting insider trading in a 2009 sale of Philex Mining shares. He denied the charges.”

Ongpin had this to say: “With regard to the charges of insider trading in a 2009 sale of Philex Mining shares, not only have I denied the charges, but the court (Sandiganbayan) dismissed it in 2015.”

On the SEC’s move to slap him with $3.4 million in penalties as written in his Forbes profile, Ongpin said the court has already junked the ruling.

 “With regard to the SEC fine of $3.4 million and prohibiting me from holding office in public companies, I appealed this to the Court of Appeals and the Court of Appeals sustained me and permanently enjoined the SEC from enforcing these penalties in 2017,” Ongpin said.

The West Philippine Sea as collateral for China loans?

Will the Chinese government force the Philippines to use the disputed West Philippine Sea as collateral for China loans?

No, said a ranking official.

“China has never asked and will never ask relevant countries to use natural resources as collateral in loan agreements. In this vein, our assistance and support to the Philippines are provided with no strings attached,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang in a recent press briefing.

Geng corrected reports that loans from China include agreements with provisions that allow the Philippines to use certain natural resources as collateral.

“Since the turnaround of China-Philippines relations in 2016, China has been actively helping the Philippines develop its economy and improve people’s livelihood, and we have given our full support to President Duterte’s large-scale infrastructure program ‘Build, Build, Build,’” Geng said.

Geng recognized the need to properly resolve the West Philippine Sea issue for the sound and steady development of China-Philippines relations, but he said China would not link the issue with bilateral economic and trade cooperation projects.

Fighting fake news

Often accused of spreading fake news, the Duterte administration’s communications team said it is spearheading efforts to combat the problem.

Last month in Davao, the Presidential Communications Operations Office organized the first ever National Information Convention 2018 with the theme “Spurring National Development and Empowering Communities.”

Participants, including journalists, NGOs and officials from local government units, pledged to disseminate factual information to combat the growing problem of misinformation and fake news.

And despite a lower budget this year – P1.351 billion for 2018, which is P20 million less than last year’s budget – the PCOO would refocus its resources to show the public what the government is doing, said Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar.

“We are realigning and refocusing the vision of our broadcast communications so that we can show the people what the government is doing.  We also have the Presidential Communications Media and RTVM, and soon we will be broadcasting through satellite. The PCOO will bring the first government satellite network in the Philippines. So all this will happen this year,” he said.

The government would also deploy 40,000 information officers in the entire country, so every barangay would have an information officer, he added.

Sounds good. I hope the fight against fake news succeeds.

Iris Gonzales’ e-mail address is [email protected]